Systems and methods for machine generated training and imitation learning

ABSTRACT

Embodiments described include systems and methods for generating training content for completion of tasks. The method includes receiving, from each of a plurality of client applications, interactions recorded by the client application via an embedded browser of the client application. The method includes classifying the interactions received from each client application into one or more tasks. The method includes selecting, for a first task of the one or more tasks, from the interactions classified into the first task, a subset of interactions to be included in a training content including a recorded example of performing the first task across the one or more network application. The method includes generating the training content configured to be transmitted to client applications responsive to receiving a request related to the first task.

FIELD OF DISCLOSURE

The present application generally relates to management of applications,including but not limited to systems and methods for using an embeddedbrowser to generate and provide training content.

BACKGROUND

As the workforce of an enterprise becomes more mobile and work undervarious conditions, an individual can use one or more client devices,including personal devices, to access network resources such as webapplications. Due to differences between the client devices and themanner in which network resources can be accessed, there are significantchallenges to the enterprise in managing access to network resources andmonitoring for potential misuse of resources. Moreover there issignificant challenge in providing user training in the efficient use ofresources.

BRIEF SUMMARY

In various embodiments, a machine may monitor user interactions withapplications and may observe the interactions to learn to train lessadapt users to interact with applications. For example, there is aspread between the most proficient users of an application/system, andthe rest of users who may not yet be as proficient. An embedded browser(e.g., “a SaaS container”) may watch and potentially record userinteractions. By watching and potentially recording user interactions byproficient users of a network application, training may be created. Forinstance, for a given task within an application, a machine may takevarious actions. A machine may (i) classify user interactions intotasks, where each task might require multiple steps across multipleapplications. The machine may (ii) identify a baseline for how long ittakes to accomplish a task. This is a task distribution across thepopulation of users that have attempted to complete the task. Note thatthe population of users may be across a subgroup in the enterprise,across the enterprise, or even across multiple enterprises (wisdom ofthe crowd) e.g. across the community of all users. The machine may (iii)identify the set of users that are more proficient. The machine may (iv)identify “best practices” as the things that are common across theefficient user set and/or select a representative user session from theproficient user set—as a training example. The machine may (v) sanitizethe training example—removing sensitive information, identifiableinformation etc. The machine may (vi) identify a user session that istaking longer that baseline plus some deviation. The machine may (vii)offer the user of this session help. If they click on help—show them arecording of the training example. The machine may (viii) allow user torate whether or not it was helpful. Finally, the machine may (ix) thisfeedback to pick superior samples from several training example.

Moreover, the machine may implement “imitation learning.” For instance,as machine learning gets more advanced, the observing machine can betrained to not just pick a single user run as the training example, butrather generalize across multiples runs across multiple users, tosynthetically create an “optimal” training example that can then be usedto train/help the users attempting the task.

The machine may implement “optimized SaaS session recording.” Since thenetwork application sessions in the embedded browser (“SaaS sessions”)are fundamentally rendered from higher order representations—HTTP andHTML requests and responses, rather than video screen recordings, it ispossible to record and replay these sessions by recording and replayingthe higher level representations of them. For instance, the machine mayrecord http and html level session and interaction information (userinput, key/mouse movement, timing, etc.) and/or track browser sessionand browser state. For example, the machine may record the output to theHTML DOM that is actually rendered by the browser. The output may, invarious instances, be free from any JavaScript. This is in contrast tothe “input” which may be JavaScript with calls and dependencies tointernet services, etc. When replaying the content, executing JavaScriptis avoided and instead the recorded DOM representations are re-rendered.Secure SaaS as the mediating browser into which the original session wasrendered, is conveniently located at the right point of abstraction tobe able to record these highly efficient representations of userinteractions with the system. These representations are efficient bothin terms of bytes required to store them; but also because they are moremachine friendly, and therefore more amenable to analysis bymachines—e.g. to look for specific behaviors across a large collectionof recordings, or to use the records as subsequent input to machinelearning algorithms.

The present disclosure is directed towards systems and methods of anembedded browser. A client application executing on a client device canallow a user to access applications (apps) that are served from and/orhosted on one or more servers, such as web applications andsoftware-as-a-service (SaaS) applications (hereafter sometimes generallyreferred to as network applications). A browser that is embedded orintegrated with the client application can render to the user a networkapplication that is accessed or requested via the client application,and can enable interactivity between the user and the networkapplication. The browser is sometimes referred to as an embeddedbrowser, and the client application with embedded browser (CEB) issometimes referred to as a workspace application. The client applicationcan establish a secure connection to the one or more servers to providean application session for the user to access the network applicationusing the client device and the embedded browser. The embedded browsercan be integrated with the client application to ensure that trafficrelated to the network application is routed through and/or processed inthe client application, which can provide the client application withreal-time visibility to the traffic (e.g., when decrypted through theclient application), and user interactions and behavior. The embeddedbrowser can provide a seamless experience to a user as the networkapplication is requested via the user interface (shared by the clientapplication and the embedded browser) and rendered through the embeddedbrowser within the same user interface.

A method for generating training content for completion of tasks isdescribed. The method may include receiving, by one or more firstservers of a first entity, from each client application of a pluralityof client applications executing on respective client devices,interactions recorded by the client application via an embedded browserof the client application. The method may also include classifying, bythe one or more first servers, the interactions received from eachclient application into one or more tasks, each task of the one or moretasks including multiple interactions across one or more networkapplications of one or more second servers of a second entity.Additionally, the method may include selecting, by the one or more firstservers, for a first task of the one or more tasks, from theinteractions classified into the first task, a subset of interactions tobe included in a training content including a recorded example ofperforming the first task across the one or more network application.Furthermore, the method may include generating, by the one or more firstservers, the training content configured to be transmitted to clientapplications responsive to receiving a request related to the firsttask.

In various embodiments of the method, the embedded browser is integratedinto the client application. At least one task of the one or more tasksis defined by a plurality of interactions across a plurality of networkapplications. The method may also contemplate identifying, by the one ormore first servers, based on the received interactions, a baselineidentifying an amount of time for completing the task. In certainembodiments, the method may include identifying, by the one or morefirst servers, based on the received interactions, a subset of usersassociated with the plurality of client applications, each user of theidentified subset of users completing the task within a predeterminedamount of time.

In some embodiments, one or more of the interactions identify a networkapplication, a time stamp and an action performed by a user of theclient application that recorded the interaction. Moreover, in someinstances, the method includes removing content from the subset ofinteractions prior to transmitting the generated training content.

The training content package may be a first training content package. Inconnection with the training content package being the first trainingcontent package, the method may include receiving, by the one or morefirst servers, feedback relating to the first training content package;and generating, by the one or more first servers, a second generatedcontent package responsive to determining that the feedback relating tothe first training content package satisfies a predetermined threshold.

The method may include receiving, by the one or more first servers, anindication from a second client application executing on a second clientdevice, that a user session is taking more time than a baseline amountof time to complete the first task, and transmitting, by the one or morefirst servers, the generated content package responsive to receiving theindication. The interactions recorded by the client applications mayinclude an output to the Document Object Model rendered by the embeddedbrowser. Finally, in various embodiments, the client applicationintercepts output representation of application layer protocol data ofinteractions of a user with the plurality of network applications, theoutput representation outputted to a document object model for renderingby the embedded browser.

In another aspect, this disclosure is directed to system for presentingadditional content for a network application accessed via an embeddedbrowser of a client application. The system may include one or morefirst servers of a first entity configured to perform at least thefollowing. For example, the one or more first services of the firstentity may be configured to receive, from each client application of aplurality of client applications executing on respective client devices,interactions recorded by the client application via an embedded browserof the client application. The one or more first services of the firstentity may be configured to classify the interactions received from eachclient application into one or more tasks, each task of the one or moretasks including multiple interactions across one or more networkapplications of one or more second servers of a second entity. The oneor more first services of the first entity may be configured to select,for a first task of the one or more tasks, from the interactionsclassified into the first task, a subset of interactions to be includedin a training content comprising a recorded example of performing thefirst task across the one or more network application. The one or morefirst services of the first entity may be configured to generate thetraining content configured to be transmitted to client applicationsresponsive to receiving a request related to the first task.

In some embodiments, the embedded browser is integrated into the clientapplication. In some embodiments, at least one task of the one or moretasks is defined by a plurality of interactions across a plurality ofnetwork applications. Moreover, the one or more first servers may befurther configured to identify, based on the received interactions, abaseline identifying an amount of time for completing the task.Additionally, one or more of the interactions may identify a networkapplication, a time stamp and an action performed by a user of theclient application that recorded the interaction.

In certain embodiments, the training content package is a first trainingcontent package, and the one or more first servers are furtherconfigured to receive feedback relating to the first training contentpackage. The one or more first servers are also configured to generate asecond generated content package responsive to determining that thefeedback relating to the first training content package satisfies apredetermined threshold.

In yet another aspect, this disclosure is directed to a method forrecording application level information of a user across a plurality ofnetwork applications. The method may include various aspects. Forinstance the method may include establishing, by a client application,one or more sessions of a user for a plurality of network applicationsestablished via an embedded browser within the client application. Themethod may include tracking, by the client application, user input andpointer movement of interactions by the user. The method may includeintercepting, by the client application, output representation ofapplication layer protocol data of interactions of the user with theplurality of network applications, the output representation outputtedto a document object model for rendering by the embedded browser.

The method may include recording, by the one or more client application,the intercepted output representation and the tracked user input andpointer movement to record the one or more sessions of the user.

In some embodiments, the method also includes tracking, by the clientapplication, a state of the one or more sessions and the embeddedbrowser. Moreover, in various embodiments, the method further comprisesintercepting, by the embedded browser, at a point between decryption ofcontent from a network stack of a client device and rendering on thedisplay of the client device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The foregoing and other objects, aspects, features, and advantages ofthe present solution will become more apparent and better understood byreferring to the following description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of embodiments of a computing device;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an illustrative embodiment of cloudservices for use in accessing resources;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example embodiment of an enterprisemobility management system;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a system 400 of an embedded browser;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an example embodiment of a system for usinga secure browser;

FIG. 6 is an example representation of an implementation for browserredirection using a secure browser plug-in;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of example embodiment of a system of using asecure browser;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an example embodiment of a system for usinglocal embedded browser(s) and hosted secured browser(s);

FIG. 9 is an example process flow for using local embedded browser(s)and hosted secured browser(s);

FIG. 10 is an example embodiment of a system for managing user access towebpages;

FIG. 11 is an example embodiment of a system for presenting additionalcontent for a network application accessed via an embedded browser of aclient application;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of a learning services agent;

FIG. 13 is a block diagram of learning services executing on cloudservices;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of an example method for generating trainingcontent for completion of tasks; and

FIG. 15 is a flow chart of an example method for recording applicationlevel information of a user across a plurality of network application.

The features and advantages of the present solution will become moreapparent from the detailed description set forth below when taken inconjunction with the drawings, in which like reference charactersidentify corresponding elements throughout. In the drawings, likereference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar,and/or structurally similar elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

For purposes of reading the description of the various embodimentsbelow, the following descriptions of the sections of the specificationand their respective contents may be helpful:

Section A describes a computing environment which may be useful forpracticing embodiments described herein.

Section B describes systems and methods for an embedded browser.

Section C describes systems and methods for generating training contentfor completion of tasks and recording application level information of auser across a plurality of network applications.

A. Computing Environment

Prior to discussing the specifics of embodiments of the systems andmethods detailed herein in Section B, it may be helpful to discuss thecomputing environments in which such embodiments may be deployed.

As shown in FIG. 1, computer 101 may include one or more processors 103,volatile memory 122 (e.g., random access memory (RAM)), non-volatilememory 128 (e.g., one or more hard disk drives (HDDs) or other magneticor optical storage media, one or more solid state drives (SSDs) such asa flash drive or other solid state storage media, one or more hybridmagnetic and solid state drives, and/or one or more virtual storagevolumes, such as a cloud storage, or a combination of such physicalstorage volumes and virtual storage volumes or arrays thereof), userinterface (UI) 123, one or more communications interfaces 118, andcommunication bus 150. User interface 123 may include graphical userinterface (GUI) 124 (e.g., a touchscreen, a display, etc.) and one ormore input/output (I/O) devices 126 (e.g., a mouse, a keyboard, amicrophone, one or more speakers, one or more cameras, one or morebiometric scanners, one or more environmental sensors, one or moreaccelerometers, etc.). Non-volatile memory 128 stores operating system115, one or more applications 116, and data 117 such that, for example,computer instructions of operating system 115 and/or applications 116are executed by processor(s) 103 out of volatile memory 122. In someembodiments, volatile memory 122 may include one or more types of RAMand/or a cache memory that may offer a faster response time than a mainmemory. Data may be entered using an input device of GUI 124 or receivedfrom I/O device(s) 126. Various elements of computer 101 may communicatevia one or more communication buses, shown as communication bus 150.

Computer 101 as shown in FIG. 1 is shown merely as an example, asclients, servers, intermediary and other networking devices and may beimplemented by any computing or processing environment and with any typeof machine or set of machines that may have suitable hardware and/orsoftware capable of operating as described herein. Processor(s) 103 maybe implemented by one or more programmable processors to execute one ormore executable instructions, such as a computer program, to perform thefunctions of the system. As used herein, the term “processor” describescircuitry that performs a function, an operation, or a sequence ofoperations. The function, operation, or sequence of operations may behard coded into the circuitry or soft coded by way of instructions heldin a memory device and executed by the circuitry. A “processor” mayperform the function, operation, or sequence of operations using digitalvalues and/or using analog signals. In some embodiments, the “processor”can be embodied in one or more application specific integrated circuits(ASICs), microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs), graphicsprocessing units (GPUs), microcontrollers, field programmable gatearrays (FPGAs), programmable logic arrays (PLAs), multi-core processors,or general-purpose computers with associated memory. The “processor” maybe analog, digital or mixed-signal. In some embodiments, the “processor”may be one or more physical processors or one or more “virtual” (e.g.,remotely located or “cloud”) processors. A processor including multipleprocessor cores and/or multiple processors multiple processors mayprovide functionality for parallel, simultaneous execution ofinstructions or for parallel, simultaneous execution of one instructionon more than one piece of data.

Communications interfaces 118 may include one or more interfaces toenable computer 101 to access a computer network such as a Local AreaNetwork (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), a Personal Area Network (PAN),or the Internet through a variety of wired and/or wireless or cellularconnections.

In described embodiments, the computing device 101 may execute anapplication on behalf of a user of a client computing device. Forexample, the computing device 101 may execute a virtual machine, whichprovides an execution session within which applications execute onbehalf of a user or a client computing device, such as a hosted desktopsession. The computing device 101 may also execute a terminal servicessession to provide a hosted desktop environment. The computing device101 may provide access to a computing environment including one or moreof: one or more applications, one or more desktop applications, and oneor more desktop sessions in which one or more applications may execute.

Additional details of the implementation and operation of networkenvironment, computer 101 and client and server computers may be asdescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 9,538,345, issued Jan. 3, 2017 to CitrixSystems, Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the teachings of which arehereby incorporated herein by reference.

B. Systems and Methods for an Embedded Browser

The present disclosure is directed towards systems and methods of anembedded browser. A client application executing on a client device canallow a user to access applications (apps) that are served from and/orhosted on one or more servers, such as web applications andsoftware-as-a-service (SaaS) applications (hereafter sometimes generallyreferred to as network applications). A browser that is embedded orintegrated with the client application can render to the user a networkapplication that is accessed or requested via the client application,and can enable interactivity between the user and the networkapplication. The browser is sometimes referred to as an embeddedbrowser, and the client application with embedded browser (CEB) issometimes referred to as a workspace application. The client applicationcan establish a secure connection to the one or more servers to providean application session for the user to access the network applicationusing the client device and the embedded browser. The embedded browsercan be integrated with the client application to ensure that trafficrelated to the network application is routed through and/or processed inthe client application, which can provide the client application withreal-time visibility to the traffic (e.g., when decrypted through theclient application), and user interactions and behavior. The embeddedbrowser can provide a seamless experience to a user as the networkapplication is requested via the user interface (shared by the clientapplication and the embedded browser) and rendered through the embeddedbrowser within the same user interface.

The client application can terminate one end of a secured connectionestablished with a server of a network application, such as a securesockets layer (SSL) virtual private network (VPN) connection. The clientapplication can receive encrypted traffic from the network application,and can decrypt the traffic before further processing (e.g., renderingby the embedded browser). The client application can monitor thereceived traffic (e.g., in encrypted packet form), and also have fullvisibility into the decrypted data stream and/or the SSL stack. Thisvisibility can allow the client application to perform or facilitatepolicy-based management (e.g., including data loss prevention (DLP)capabilities), application control (e.g., to improve performance,service level), and collection and production of analytics. Forinstance, the local CEB can provide an information technology (IT)administrator with a controlled system for deploying web and SaaSapplications through the CEB, and allow the IT administrator to setpolicies or configurations via the CEB for performing any of theforgoing activities.

Many web and SaaS delivered applications connect from web servers togeneric browsers (e.g., Internet Explorer, Firefox, and so on) of users.Once authenticated, the entire session of such a network application isencrypted. However, in this scenario, an administrator may not havevisibility, analytics, or control of the content entering the networkapplication from the user's digital workspace, or the content leavingthe network application and entering the user's digital workspace.Moreover, content of a network application viewed in a generic browsercan be copied or downloaded (e.g., by a user or program) to potentiallyany arbitrary application or device, resulting in a possible breach indata security.

This present systems and methods can ensure that traffic associated witha network application is channeled through a CEB. By way ofillustration, when a user accesses a SaaS web service with securityassertion markup language (SAML) enabled for instance, the correspondingaccess request can be forwarded to a designated gateway service thatdetermines, checks or verifies if the CEB was used to make the accessrequest. Responsive to determining that a CEB was used to make theaccess request, the gateway service can perform or provideauthentication and single-sign-on (SSO), and can allow the CEB toconnect directly to the SaaS web service. Encryption (e.g., standardencryption) can be used for the application session between the CEB andthe SaaS web service. When the content from the web service isunencrypted in the CEB to the viewed via the embedded browser, and/orwhen input is entered via the CEB, the CEB can provide added services onselective application-related information for control and analytics forinstance. For example, an analytics agent or application programminginterface (API) can be embedded in the CEB to provide or perform theadded services.

The CEB (sometimes referred to as workspace application or receiver) caninteroperate with one or more gateway services, intermediaries and/ornetwork servers (sometimes collectively referred to as cloud services orCitrix Cloud) to provide access to a network application. Features andelements of an environment related to the operation of an embodiment ofcloud services are described below.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of cloud services for use in accessingresources including network applications. The cloud services can includean enterprise mobility technical architecture 200, which can include anaccess gateway 260 in one illustrative embodiment. The architecture canbe used in a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) environment for instance. Thearchitecture can enable a user of a client device 202 (e.g., a mobile orother device) to both access enterprise or personal resources from aclient device 202, and use the client device 202 for personal use. Theuser may access such enterprise resources 204 or enterprise services 208via a client application executing on the client device 202. The usermay access such enterprise resources 204 or enterprise services 208using a client device 202 that is purchased by the user or a clientdevice 202 that is provided by the enterprise to user. The user mayutilize the client device 202 for business use only or for business andpersonal use. The client device may run an iOS operating system, andAndroid operating system, or the like. The enterprise may choose toimplement policies to manage the client device 202. The policies may beimplanted through a firewall or gateway in such a way that the clientdevice may be identified, secured or security verified, and providedselective or full access to the enterprise resources. The policies maybe client device management policies, mobile application managementpolicies, mobile data management policies, or some combination of clientdevice, application, and data management policies. A client device 202that is managed through the application of client device managementpolicies may be referred to as an enrolled device. The client devicemanagement policies can be applied via the client application forinstance.

In some embodiments, the operating system of the client device may beseparated into a managed partition 210 and an unmanaged partition 212.The managed partition 210 may have policies applied to it to secure theapplications running on and data stored in the managed partition. Theapplications running on the managed partition may be secureapplications. In other embodiments, all applications may execute inaccordance with a set of one or more policy files received separate fromthe application, and which define one or more security parameters,features, resource restrictions, and/or other access controls that areenforced by the client device management system when that application isexecuting on the device. By operating in accordance with theirrespective policy file(s), each application may be allowed or restrictedfrom communications with one or more other applications and/orresources, thereby creating a virtual partition. Thus, as used herein, apartition may refer to a physically partitioned portion of memory(physical partition), a logically partitioned portion of memory (logicalpartition), and/or a virtual partition created as a result ofenforcement of one or more policies and/or policy files across multipleapps as described herein (virtual partition). Stated differently, byenforcing policies on managed apps, those apps may be restricted to onlybe able to communicate with other managed apps and trusted enterpriseresources, thereby creating a virtual partition that is not accessibleby unmanaged apps and devices.

The secure applications may be email applications, web browsingapplications, software-as-a-service (SaaS) access applications, WindowsApplication access applications, and the like. The client applicationcan include a secure application launcher 218. The secure applicationsmay be secure native applications 214, secure remote applications 222executed by the secure application launcher 218, virtualizationapplications 226 executed by the secure application launcher 218, andthe like. The secure native applications 214 may be wrapped by a secureapplication wrapper 220. The secure application wrapper 220 may includeintegrated policies that are executed on the client device 202 when thesecure native application is executed on the device. The secureapplication wrapper 220 may include meta-data that points the securenative application 214 running on the client device 202 to the resourceshosted at the enterprise that the secure native application 214 mayrequire to complete the task requested upon execution of the securenative application 214. The secure remote applications 222 executed by asecure application launcher 218 may be executed within the secureapplication launcher application 218. The virtualization applications226 executed by a secure application launcher 218 may utilize resourceson the client device 202, at the enterprise resources 204, and the like.The resources used on the client device 202 by the virtualizationapplications 226 executed by a secure application launcher 218 mayinclude user interaction resources, processing resources, and the like.The user interaction resources may be used to collect and transmitkeyboard input, mouse input, camera input, tactile input, audio input,visual input, gesture input, and the like. The processing resources maybe used to present a user interface, process data received from theenterprise resources 204, and the like. The resources used at theenterprise resources 204 by the virtualization applications 226 executedby a secure application launcher 218 may include user interfacegeneration resources, processing resources, and the like. The userinterface generation resources may be used to assemble a user interface,modify a user interface, refresh a user interface, and the like. Theprocessing resources may be used to create information, readinformation, update information, delete information, and the like. Forexample, the virtualization application may record user interactionsassociated with a graphical user interface (GUI) and communicate them toa server application where the server application may use the userinteraction data as an input to the application operating on the server.In this arrangement, an enterprise may elect to maintain the applicationon the server side as well as data, files, etc., associated with theapplication. While an enterprise may elect to “mobilize” someapplications in accordance with the principles herein by securing themfor deployment on the client device (e.g., via the client application),this arrangement may also be elected for certain applications. Forexample, while some applications may be secured for use on the clientdevice, others might not be prepared or appropriate for deployment onthe client device so the enterprise may elect to provide the mobile useraccess to the unprepared applications through virtualization techniques.As another example, the enterprise may have large complex applicationswith large and complex data sets (e.g., material resource planningapplications) where it would be very difficult, or otherwiseundesirable, to customize the application for the client device so theenterprise may elect to provide access to the application throughvirtualization techniques. As yet another example, the enterprise mayhave an application that maintains highly secured data (e.g., humanresources data, customer data, engineering data) that may be deemed bythe enterprise as too sensitive for even the secured mobile environmentso the enterprise may elect to use virtualization techniques to permitmobile access to such applications and data. An enterprise may elect toprovide both fully secured and fully functional applications on theclient device. The enterprise can use a client application, which caninclude a virtualization application, to allow access to applicationsthat are deemed more properly operated on the server side. In anembodiment, the virtualization application may store some data, files,etc., on the mobile phone in one of the secure storage locations. Anenterprise, for example, may elect to allow certain information to bestored on the phone while not permitting other information.

In connection with the virtualization application, as described herein,the client device may have a virtualization application that is designedto present GUIs and then record user interactions with the GUI. Thevirtualization application may communicate the user interactions to theserver side to be used by the server side application as userinteractions with the application. In response, the application on theserver side may transmit back to the client device a new GUI. Forexample, the new GUI may be a static page, a dynamic page, an animation,or the like, thereby providing access to remotely located resources.

The secure applications may access data stored in a secure datacontainer 228 in the managed partition 210 of the client device. Thedata secured in the secure data container may be accessed by the securewrapped applications 214, applications executed by a secure applicationlauncher 222, virtualization applications 226 executed by a secureapplication launcher 218, and the like. The data stored in the securedata container 228 may include files, databases, and the like. The datastored in the secure data container 228 may include data restricted to aspecific secure application 230, shared among secure applications 232,and the like. Data restricted to a secure application may include securegeneral data 234 and highly secure data 238. Secure general data may usea strong form of encryption such as Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)128-bit encryption or the like, while highly secure data 238 may use avery strong form of encryption such as AES 256-bit encryption. Datastored in the secure data container 228 may be deleted from the deviceupon receipt of a command from the device manager 224. The secureapplications may have a dual-mode option 240. The dual mode option 240may present the user with an option to operate the secured applicationin an unsecured or unmanaged mode. In an unsecured or unmanaged mode,the secure applications may access data stored in an unsecured datacontainer 242 on the unmanaged partition 212 of the client device 202.The data stored in an unsecured data container may be personal data 244.The data stored in an unsecured data container 242 may also be accessedby unsecured applications 248 that are running on the unmanagedpartition 212 of the client device 202. The data stored in an unsecureddata container 242 may remain on the client device 202 when the datastored in the secure data container 228 is deleted from the clientdevice 202. An enterprise may want to delete from the client deviceselected or all data, files, and/or applications owned, licensed orcontrolled by the enterprise (enterprise data) while leaving orotherwise preserving personal data, files, and/or applications owned,licensed or controlled by the user (personal data). This operation maybe referred to as a selective wipe. With the enterprise and personaldata arranged in accordance to the aspects described herein, anenterprise may perform a selective wipe.

The client device 202 may connect to enterprise resources 204 andenterprise services 208 at an enterprise, to the public Internet 248,and the like. The client device may connect to enterprise resources 204and enterprise services 208 through virtual private network connections.The virtual private network connections, also referred to as microVPN orapplication-specific VPN, may be specific to particular applications(e.g., as illustrated by microVPNs 250), particular devices, particularsecured areas on the client device (e.g., as illustrated by O/S VPN252), and the like. For example, each of the wrapped applications in thesecured area of the phone may access enterprise resources through anapplication specific VPN such that access to the VPN would be grantedbased on attributes associated with the application, possibly inconjunction with user or device attribute information. The virtualprivate network connections may carry Microsoft Exchange traffic,Microsoft Active Directory traffic, HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP)traffic, HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) traffic, applicationmanagement traffic, and the like. The virtual private networkconnections may support and enable single-sign-on authenticationprocesses 254. The single-sign-on processes may allow a user to providea single set of authentication credentials, which are then verified byan authentication service 258. The authentication service 258 may thengrant to the user access to multiple enterprise resources 204, withoutrequiring the user to provide authentication credentials to eachindividual enterprise resource 204.

The virtual private network connections may be established and managedby an access gateway 260. The access gateway 260 may include performanceenhancement features that manage, accelerate, and improve the deliveryof enterprise resources 204 to the client device 202. The access gatewaymay also re-route traffic from the client device 202 to the publicInternet 248, enabling the client device 202 to access publiclyavailable and unsecured applications that run on the public Internet248. The client device may connect to the access gateway via a transportnetwork 262. The transport network 262 may use one or more transportprotocols and may be a wired network, wireless network, cloud network,local area network, metropolitan area network, wide area network, publicnetwork, private network, and the like.

The enterprise resources 204 may include email servers, file sharingservers, SaaS/Web applications, Web application servers, Windowsapplication servers, and the like. Email servers may include Exchangeservers, Lotus Notes servers, and the like. File sharing servers mayinclude ShareFile servers, and the like. SaaS applications may includeSalesforce, and the like. Windows application servers may include anyapplication server that is built to provide applications that areintended to run on a local Windows operating system, and the like. Theenterprise resources 204 may be premise-based resources, cloud basedresources, and the like. The enterprise resources 204 may be accessed bythe client device 202 directly or through the access gateway 260. Theenterprise resources 204 may be accessed by the client device 202 via atransport network 262. The transport network 262 may be a wired network,wireless network, cloud network, local area network, metropolitan areanetwork, wide area network, public network, private network, and thelike.

Cloud services can include an access gateway 260 and/or enterpriseservices 208. The enterprise services 208 may include authenticationservices 258, threat detection services 264, device manager services224, file sharing services 268, policy manager services 270, socialintegration services 272, application controller services 274, and thelike. Authentication services 258 may include user authenticationservices, device authentication services, application authenticationservices, data authentication services and the like. Authenticationservices 258 may use certificates. The certificates may be stored on theclient device 202, by the enterprise resources 204, and the like. Thecertificates stored on the client device 202 may be stored in anencrypted location on the client device, the certificate may betemporarily stored on the client device 202 for use at the time ofauthentication, and the like. Threat detection services 264 may includeintrusion detection services, unauthorized access attempt detectionservices, and the like. Unauthorized access attempt detection servicesmay include unauthorized attempts to access devices, applications, data,and the like. Device management services 224 may include configuration,provisioning, security, support, monitoring, reporting, anddecommissioning services. File sharing services 268 may include filemanagement services, file storage services, file collaboration services,and the like. Policy manager services 270 may include device policymanager services, application policy manager services, data policymanager services, and the like. Social integration services 272 mayinclude contact integration services, collaboration services,integration with social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, andLinkedIn, and the like. Application controller services 274 may includemanagement services, provisioning services, deployment services,assignment services, revocation services, wrapping services, and thelike.

The enterprise mobility technical architecture 200 may include anapplication store 278. The application store 278 may include unwrappedapplications 280, pre-wrapped applications 282, and the like.Applications may be populated in the application store 278 from theapplication controller 274. The application store 278 may be accessed bythe client device 202 through the access gateway 260, through the publicInternet 248, or the like. The application store may be provided with anintuitive and easy to use User Interface.

A software development kit 284 may provide a user the capability tosecure applications selected by the user by providing a secure wrapperaround the application. An application that has been wrapped using thesoftware development kit 284 may then be made available to the clientdevice 202 by populating it in the application store 278 using theapplication controller 274.

The enterprise mobility technical architecture 200 may include amanagement and analytics capability. The management and analyticscapability may provide information related to how resources are used,how often resources are used, and the like. Resources may includedevices, applications, data, and the like. How resources are used mayinclude which devices download which applications, which applicationsaccess which data, and the like. How often resources are used mayinclude how often an application has been downloaded, how many times aspecific set of data has been accessed by an application, and the like.

FIG. 3 depicts is an illustrative embodiment of an enterprise mobilitymanagement system 300. Some of the components of the mobility managementsystem 200 described above with reference to FIG. 2 have been omittedfor the sake of simplicity. The architecture of the system 300 depictedin FIG. 3 is similar in many respects to the architecture of the system200 described above with reference to FIG. 2 and may include additionalfeatures not mentioned above.

In this case, the left hand side represents an enrolled client device302 with a client agent 304, which interacts with gateway server 306 toaccess various enterprise resources 308 and services 309 such as Web orSaaS applications, Exchange, Sharepoint, public-key infrastructure (PKI)Resources, Kerberos Resources, Certificate Issuance service, as shown onthe right hand side above. The gateway server 306 can includeembodiments of features and functionalities of the cloud services, suchas access gateway 260 and application controller functionality. Althoughnot specifically shown, the client agent 304 may be part of, and/orinteract with the client application which can operate as an enterpriseapplication store (storefront) for the selection and/or downloading ofnetwork applications.

The client agent 304 can act as a UI (user interface) intermediary forWindows apps/desktops hosted in an Enterprise data center, which areaccessed using the High-Definition User Experience (HDX) or IndependentComputing Architecture (ICA) display remoting protocol. The client agent304 can also support the installation and management of nativeapplications on the client device 302, such as native iOS or Androidapplications. For example, the managed applications 310 (mail, browser,wrapped application) shown in the figure above are native applicationsthat execute locally on the device. Client agent 304 and applicationmanagement framework of this architecture act to provide policy drivenmanagement capabilities and features such as connectivity and SSO(single sign on) to enterprise resources/services 308. The client agent304 handles primary user authentication to the enterprise, for instanceto access gateway (AG) with SSO to other gateway server components. Theclient agent 304 obtains policies from gateway server 306 to control thebehavior of the managed applications 310 on the client device 302.

The Secure interprocess communication (IPC) links 312 between the nativeapplications 310 and client agent 304 represent a management channel,which allows client agent to supply policies to be enforced by theapplication management framework 314 “wrapping” each application. TheIPC channel 312 also allows client agent 304 to supply credential andauthentication information that enables connectivity and SSO toenterprise resources 308. Finally the IPC channel 312 allows theapplication management framework 314 to invoke user interface functionsimplemented by client agent 304, such as online and offlineauthentication.

Communications between the client agent 304 and gateway server 306 areessentially an extension of the management channel from the applicationmanagement framework 314 wrapping each native managed application 310.The application management framework 314 requests policy informationfrom client agent 304, which in turn requests it from gateway server306. The application management framework 314 requests authentication,and client agent 304 logs into the gateway services part of gatewayserver 306 (also known as NetScaler access gateway). Client agent 304may also call supporting services on gateway server 306, which mayproduce input material to derive encryption keys for the local datavaults 316, or provide client certificates which may enable directauthentication to PKI protected resources, as more fully explainedbelow.

In more detail, the application management framework 314 “wraps” eachmanaged application 310. This may be incorporated via an explicit buildstep, or via a post-build processing step. The application managementframework 314 may “pair” with client agent 304 on first launch of anapplication 310 to initialize the Secure IPC channel and obtain thepolicy for that application. The application management framework 314may enforce relevant portions of the policy that apply locally, such asthe client agent login dependencies and some of the containment policiesthat restrict how local OS services may be used, or how they mayinteract with the application 310.

The application management framework 314 may use services provided byclient agent 304 over the Secure IPC channel 312 to facilitateauthentication and internal network access.

Key management for the private and shared data vaults 316 (containers)may be also managed by appropriate interactions between the managedapplications 310 and client agent 304. Vaults 316 may be available onlyafter online authentication, or may be made available after offlineauthentication if allowed by policy. First use of vaults 316 may requireonline authentication, and offline access may be limited to at most thepolicy refresh period before online authentication is again required.

Network access to internal resources may occur directly from individualmanaged applications 310 through access gateway 306. The applicationmanagement framework 314 is responsible for orchestrating the networkaccess on behalf of each application 310. Client agent 304 mayfacilitate these network connections by providing suitable time limitedsecondary credentials obtained following online authentication. Multiplemodes of network connection may be used, such as reverse web proxyconnections and end-to-end VPN-style tunnels 318.

The Mail and Browser managed applications 310 can have special statusand may make use of facilities that might not be generally available toarbitrary wrapped applications. For example, the Mail application mayuse a special background network access mechanism that allows it toaccess Exchange over an extended period of time without requiring a fullAG logon. The Browser application may use multiple private data vaultsto segregate different kinds of data.

This architecture can support the incorporation of various othersecurity features. For example, gateway server 306 (including itsgateway services) in some cases might not need to validate activedirectory (AD) passwords. It can be left to the discretion of anenterprise whether an AD password is used as an authentication factorfor some users in some situations. Different authentication methods maybe used if a user is online or offline (i.e., connected or not connectedto a network).

Step up authentication is a feature wherein gateway server 306 mayidentify managed native applications 310 that are allowed to have accessto more sensitive data using strong authentication, and ensure thataccess to these applications is only permitted after performingappropriate authentication, even if this means a re-authentication isrequested from the user after a prior weaker level of login.

Another security feature of this solution is the encryption of the datavaults 316 (containers) on the client device 302. The vaults 316 may beencrypted so that all on-device data including clipboard/cache data,files, databases, and configurations are protected. For on-line vaults,the keys may be stored on the server (gateway server 306), and foroff-line vaults, a local copy of the keys may be protected by a userpassword or biometric validation. When data is stored locally on thedevice 302 in the secure container 316, it is preferred that a minimumof AES 256 encryption algorithm be utilized.

Other secure container features may also be implemented. For example, alogging feature may be included, wherein all security events happeninginside an application 310 are logged and reported to the backend. Datawiping may be supported, such as if the application 310 detectstampering, associated encryption keys may be written over with randomdata, leaving no hint on the file system that user data was destroyed.Screenshot protection is another feature, where an application mayprevent any data from being stored in screenshots. For example, the keywindow's hidden property may be set to YES. This may cause whatevercontent is currently displayed on the screen to be hidden, resulting ina blank screenshot where any content would normally reside.

Local data transfer may be prevented, such as by preventing any datafrom being locally transferred outside the application container, e.g.,by copying it or sending it to an external application. A keyboard cachefeature may operate to disable the autocorrect functionality forsensitive text fields. SSL certificate validation may be operable so theapplication specifically validates the server SSL certificate instead ofit being stored in the keychain. An encryption key generation featuremay be used such that the key used to encrypt data on the device isgenerated using a passphrase or biometric data supplied by the user (ifoffline access is required). It may be XORed with another key randomlygenerated and stored on the server side if offline access is notrequired. Key Derivation functions may operate such that keys generatedfrom the user password use KDFs (key derivation functions, notablyPassword-Based Key Derivation Function 2 (PBKDF2)) rather than creatinga cryptographic hash of it. The latter makes a key susceptible to bruteforce or dictionary attacks.

Further, one or more initialization vectors may be used in encryptionmethods. An initialization vector might cause multiple copies of thesame encrypted data to yield different cipher text output, preventingboth replay and cryptanalytic attacks. This may also prevent an attackerfrom decrypting any data even with a stolen encryption key. Further,authentication then decryption may be used, wherein application data isdecrypted only after the user has authenticated within the application.Another feature may relate to sensitive data in memory, which may bekept in memory (and not in disk) only when it's needed. For example,login credentials may be wiped from memory after login, and encryptionkeys and other data inside objective-C instance variables are notstored, as they may be easily referenced. Instead, memory may bemanually allocated for these.

An inactivity timeout may be implemented via the CEB, wherein after apolicy-defined period of inactivity, a user session is terminated.

Data leakage from the application management framework 314 may beprevented in other ways. For example, when an application 310 is put inthe background, the memory may be cleared after a predetermined(configurable) time period. When backgrounded, a snapshot may be takenof the last displayed screen of the application to fasten theforegrounding process. The screenshot may contain confidential data andhence should be cleared.

Another security feature relates to the use of an OTP (one timepassword) 320 without the use of an AD (active directory) 322 passwordfor access to one or more applications. In some cases, some users do notknow (or are not permitted to know) their AD password, so these usersmay authenticate using an OTP 320 such as by using a hardware OTP systemlike SecurID (OTPs may be provided by different vendors also, such asEntrust or Gemalto). In some cases, after a user authenticates with auser ID, a text is sent to the user with an OTP 320. In some cases, thismay be implemented only for online use, with a prompt being a singlefield.

An offline password may be implemented for offline authentication forthose applications 310 for which offline use is permitted via enterprisepolicy. For example, an enterprise may want storefront to be accessed inthis manner. In this case, the client agent 304 may require the user toset a custom offline password and the AD password is not used. Gatewayserver 306 may provide policies to control and enforce passwordstandards with respect to the minimum length, character classcomposition, and age of passwords, such as described by the standardWindows Server password complexity requirements, although theserequirements may be modified.

Another feature relates to the enablement of a client side certificatefor certain applications 310 as secondary credentials (for the purposeof accessing PKI protected web resources via the application managementframework micro VPN feature). For example, an application may utilizesuch a certificate. In this case, certificate-based authentication usingActiveSync protocol may be supported, wherein a certificate from theclient agent 304 may be retrieved by gateway server 306 and used in akeychain. Each managed application may have one associated clientcertificate, identified by a label that is defined in gateway server306.

Gateway server 306 may interact with an Enterprise special purpose webservice to support the issuance of client certificates to allow relevantmanaged applications to authenticate to internal PKI protectedresources.

The client agent 304 and the application management framework 314 may beenhanced to support obtaining and using client certificates forauthentication to internal PKI protected network resources. More thanone certificate may be supported, such as to match various levels ofsecurity and/or separation requirements. The certificates may be used bythe Mail and Browser managed applications, and ultimately by arbitrarywrapped applications (provided those applications use web service stylecommunication patterns where it is reasonable for the applicationmanagement framework to mediate https requests).

Application management client certificate support on iOS may rely onimporting a public-key cryptography standards (PKCS) 12 BLOB (BinaryLarge Object) into the iOS keychain in each managed application for eachperiod of use. Application management framework client certificatesupport may use a HTTPS implementation with private in-memory keystorage. The client certificate might never be present in the iOSkeychain and might not be persisted except potentially in “online-only”data value that is strongly protected.

Mutual SSL or TLS may also be implemented to provide additional securityby requiring that a client device 302 is authenticated to theenterprise, and vice versa. Virtual smart cards for authentication togateway server 306 may also be implemented.

Both limited and full Kerberos support may be additional features. Thefull support feature relates to an ability to do full Kerberos login toActive Directory (AD) 322, using an AD password or trusted clientcertificate, and obtain Kerberos service tickets to respond to HTTPNegotiate authentication challenges. The limited support feature relatesto constrained delegation in Citrix Access Gateway Enterprise Edition(AGEE), where AGEE supports invoking Kerberos protocol transition so itcan obtain and use Kerberos service tickets (subject to constraineddelegation) in response to HTTP Negotiate authentication challenges.This mechanism works in reverse web proxy (aka corporate virtual privatenetwork (CVPN)) mode, and when http (but not https) connections areproxied in VPN and MicroVPN mode.

Another feature relates to application container locking and wiping,which may automatically occur upon jail-break or rooting detections, andoccur as a pushed command from administration console, and may include aremote wipe functionality even when an application 310 is not running.

A multi-site architecture or configuration of enterprise applicationstore and an application controller may be supported that allows usersto be service from one of several different locations in case offailure.

In some cases, managed applications 310 may be allowed to access acertificate and private key via an API (example OpenSSL). Trustedmanaged applications 310 of an enterprise may be allowed to performspecific Public Key operations with an application's client certificateand private key. Various use cases may be identified and treatedaccordingly, such as when an application behaves like a browser and nocertificate access is used, when an application reads a certificate for“who am I,” when an application uses the certificate to build a securesession token, and when an application uses private keys for digitalsigning of important data (e.g., transaction log) or for temporary dataencryption.

Referring now to FIG. 4, depicted is a block diagram of a system 400 ofan embedded browser. In brief overview, the system 400 may include aclient device 402 with a digital workspace for a user, a clientapplication 404, cloud services 408 operating on at least one networkdevice 432, and network applications 406 served from and/or hosted onone or more servers 430. The client application 404 can for instanceinclude at least one of: an embedded browser 410, a networking agent412, a cloud services agent 414, a remote session agent 416, or a securecontainer 418. The cloud services 408 can for instance include at leastone of: secure browser(s) 420, an access gateway 422 (or CIS, e.g., forregistering and/or authenticating the client application and/or user),or analytics services 424 (or CAS, e.g., for receiving information fromthe client application for analytics). The network applications 406 caninclude sanctioned applications 426 and non-sanctioned applications 428.

Each of the above-mentioned elements or entities is implemented inhardware, or a combination of hardware and software, in one or moreembodiments. Each component of the system 400 may be implemented usinghardware or a combination of hardware or software detailed above inconnection with FIG. 1. For instance, each of these elements or entitiescan include any application, program, library, script, task, service,process or any type and form of executable instructions executing onhardware of the client device 402, the at least one network device 432and/or the one or more servers 430. The hardware includes circuitry suchas one or more processors in one or more embodiments. For example, theat least one network device 432 and/or the one or more servers 430 caninclude any of the elements of a computing device described above inconnection with at least FIG. 1 for instance.

The client device 402 can include any embodiment of a computing devicedescribed above in connection with at least FIG. 1 for instance. Theclient device 402 can include any user device such as a desktopcomputer, a laptop computer, a tablet device, a smart phone, or anyother mobile or personal device. The client device 402 can include adigital workspace of a user, which can include file system(s), cache ormemory (e.g., including electronic clipboard(s)), container(s),application(s) and/or other resources on the client device 402. Thedigital workspace can include or extend to one or more networksaccessible by the client device 402, such as an intranet and theInternet, including file system(s) and/or other resources accessible viathe one or more networks. A portion of the digital workspace can besecured via the use of the client application 404 with embedded browser410 (CEB) for instance. The secure portion of the digital workspace caninclude for instance file system(s), cache or memory (e.g., includingelectronic clipboard(s)), application(s), container(s) and/or otherresources allocated to the CEB, and/or allocated by the CEB to networkapplication(s) 406 accessed via the CEB. The secure portion of thedigital workspace can also include resources specified by the CEB (viaone or more policies) for inclusion in the secure portion of the digitalworkspace (e.g., a particular local application can be specified via apolicy to be allowed to receive data obtained from a networkapplication).

The client application 404 can include one or more components, such asan embedded browser 410, a networking agent 412, a cloud services agent414 (sometimes referred to as management agent), a remote session agent416 (sometimes referred to as HDX engine), and/or a secure container 418(sometimes referred to as secure cache container). One or more of thecomponents can be installed as part of a software build or release ofthe client application 404 or CEB, or separately acquired or downloadedand installed/integrated into an existing installation of the clientapplication 404 or CEB for instance. For instance, the client device maydownload or otherwise receive the client application 404 (or anycomponent) from the network device(s) 432. In some embodiments, theclient device may send a request for the client application 404 to thenetwork device(s) 432. For example, a user of the client device caninitiate a request, download and/or installation of the clientapplication. The network device(s) 432 in turn may send the clientapplication to the client device. In some embodiments, the networkdevice(s) 432 may send a setup or installation application for theclient application to the client device. Upon receipt, the client devicemay install the client application onto a hard disk of the clientdevice. In some embodiments, the client device may run the setupapplication to unpack or decompress a package of the client application.In some embodiments, the client application may be an extension (e.g.,an add-on, an add-in, an applet or a plug-in) to another application(e.g., a networking agent 412) installed on the client device. Theclient device may install the client application to interface orinter-operate with the pre-installed application. In some embodiments,the client application may be a standalone application. The clientdevice may install the client application to execute as a separateprocess.

The embedded browser 410 can include elements and functionalities of aweb browser application or engine. The embedded browser 410 can locallyrender network application(s) as a component or extension of the clientapplication. For instance, the embedded browser 410 can render aSaaS/Web application inside the CEB which can provide the CEB with fullvisibility and control of the application session. The embedded browsercan be embedded or incorporated into the client application via anymeans, such as direct integration (e.g., programming language or scriptinsertion) into the executable code of the client application, or viaplugin installation. For example, the embedded browser can include aChromium based browser engine or other type of browser engine, that canbe embedded into the client application, using the Chromium embeddedframework (CEF) for instance. The embedded browser can include aHTML5-based layout graphical user interface (GUI). The embedded browsercan provide HTML rendering and JavaScript support to a clientapplication incorporating various programming languages. For example,elements of the embedded browser can bind to a client applicationincorporating C, C++, Delphi, Go, Java, .NET/Mono, Visual Basic 6.0,and/or Python.

In some embodiments, the embedded browser comprises a plug-in installedon the client application. For example, the plug-in can include one ormore components. One such components can be an ActiveX control or Javacontrol or any other type and/or form of executable instructions capableof loading into and executing in the client application. For example,the client application can load and run an Active X control of theembedded browser, such as in a memory space or context of the clientapplication. In some embodiments, the embedded browser can be installedas an extension on the client application, and a user can choose toenable or disable the plugin or extension. The embedded browser (e.g.,via the plugin or extension) can form or operate as a secured browserfor securing, using and/or accessing resources within the securedportion of the digital workspace.

The embedded browser can incorporate code and functionalities beyondthat available or possible in a standard or typical browser. Forinstance, the embedded browser can bind with or be assigned with asecured container 418, to define at least part of the secured portion ofa user's digital workspace. The embedded browser can bind with or beassigned with a portion of the client device's cache to form a securedclipboard (e.g., local to the client device, or extendable to otherdevices), that can be at least part of the secured container 418. Theembedded browser can be integrated with the client application to ensurethat traffic related to network applications is routed through and/orprocessed in the client application, which can provide the clientapplication with real-time visibility to the traffic (e.g., whendecrypted through the client application). This visibility to thetraffic can allow the client application to perform or facilitatepolicy-based management (e.g., including data loss prevention (DLP)capabilities), application control, and collection and production ofanalytics.

In some embodiments, the embedded browser incorporates one or more othercomponents of the client application 404, such as the cloud servicesagent 414, remote session agent 416 and/or secure container 418. Forinstance, a user can use the cloud services agent 414 of the embeddedbrowser to interoperate with the access gateway 422 (sometimes referredto as CIS) to access a network application. For example, the cloudservices agent 414 can execute within the embedded browser, and canreceive and transmit navigation commands from the embedded browser to ahosted network application. The cloud services agent can use a remotepresentation protocol to display the output generated by the networkapplication to the embedded browser. For example, the cloud servicesagent 414 can include a HTML5 web client that allows end users to accessremote desktops and/or applications on the embedded browser.

The client application 404 and CEB operate on the application layer ofthe operational (OSI) stack of the client device. The client application404 can include and/or execute one or more agents that interoperate withthe cloud services 408. The client application 404 can receive, obtain,retrieve or otherwise access various policies (e.g., an enterprise'scustom, specified or internal policies or rules) and/or data (e.g., froman access gateway 422 and/or network device(s) of cloud services 408, orother server(s), that may be managed by the enterprise). The clientapplication can access the policies and/or data to control and/or managea network application (e.g., a SaaS, web or remote-hosted application).Control and/or management of a network application can include controland/or management of various aspects of the network application, such asaccess control, session delivery, available features or functions,service level, traffic management and monitoring, and so on. The networkapplication can be from a provider or vendor of the enterprise (e.g.,salesforce.com, SAP, Microsoft Office 365), from the enterprise itself,or from another entity (e.g., Dropbox or Gmail service).

For example, the cloud services agent 414 can provide policy drivenmanagement capabilities and features related to the use and/or access ofnetwork applications. For example, the cloud services agent 414 caninclude a policy engine to apply one or more policies (e.g., receivedfrom cloud services) to determine access control and/or connectivity toresources such as network applications. When a session is establishedbetween the client application and a server 430 providing a SaaSapplication for instance, the cloud services agent 414 can apply one ormore policies to control traffic levels and/or traffic types (or otheraspects) of the session, for instance to manage a service level of theSaaS application. Additional aspects of the application traffic that canbe controlled or managed can include encryption level and/or encryptiontype applied to the traffic, level of interactivity allowed for a user,limited access to certain features of the network application (e.g.,print-screen, save, edit or copy functions), restrictions to use ortransfer of data obtained from the network application, limit concurrentaccess to two or more network applications, limit access to certain filerepositories or other resources, and so on.

The cloud services agent 414 can convey or feed information to analyticsservices 424 of the cloud services 408, such as information about SaaSinteraction events visible to the CEB. Such a configuration using theCEB can monitor or capture information for analytics without having aninline device or proxy located between the client device and theserver(s) 430, or using a SaaS API gateway ‘out-of-band’ approach. Insome embodiments, the cloud services agent 414 does not execute withinthe embedded browser. In these embodiments, a user can similarly use thecloud services agent 414 to interoperate with the access gateway (orCIS) 422 to access a network application. For instance, the cloudservices agent 414 can register and/or authenticate with the accessgateway (or CIS) 422, and can obtain a list of the network applicationsfrom the access gateway (or CIS) 422. The cloud services agent 414 caninclude and/or operate as an application store (or storefront) for userselection and/or downloading of network applications. Upon logging in toaccess a network application, the cloud services agent 414 can interceptand transmit navigation commands from the embedded browser to thenetwork application. The cloud services agent can use a remotepresentation protocol to display the output generated by the networkapplication to the embedded browser. For example, the cloud servicesagent 414 can include a HTML5 web client that allows end users to accessremote desktops and/or applications on the embedded browser.

In some embodiments, the cloud services agent 414 provides single signon (SSO) capability for the user and/or client device to access aplurality of network applications. The cloud services agent 414 canperform user authentication to access network applications as well asother network resources and services, by communicating with the accessgateway 422 for instance. For example, the cloud services agent 414 canauthenticate or register with the access gateway 422, to access othercomponents of the cloud services 408 and/or the network applications406. Responsive to the authentication or registration, the accessgateway 422 can perform authentication and/or SSO for (or on behalf of)the user and/or client application, with the network applications.

The client application 404 can include a networking agent 412. Thenetworking agent 412 is sometimes referred to as a software-defined widearea network (SD-WAN) agent, mVPN agent, or microVPN agent. Thenetworking agent 412 can establish or facilitate establishment of anetwork connection between the client application and one or moreresources (e.g., server 430 serving a network application). Thenetworking agent 412 can perform handshaking for a requested connectionfrom the client application to access a network application, and canestablish the requested connection (e.g., secure or encryptedconnection). The networking agent 412 can connect to enterpriseresources (including services) for instance via a virtual privatenetwork (VPN). For example, the networking agent 412 can establish asecure socket layer (SSL) VPN between the client application and aserver 430 providing the network application 406. The VPN connections,sometimes referred to as microVPN or application-specific VPN, may bespecific to particular network applications, particular devices,particular secured areas on the client device, and the like, forinstance as discussed above in connection with FIG. 3. Such VPNconnections can carry Microsoft Exchange traffic, Microsoft ActiveDirectory traffic, HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) traffic, HyperTextTransfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) traffic, as some examples.

The remote session agent 416 (sometimes referred to as HDX engine) caninclude features of the client agent 304 discussed above in connectionwith FIG. 2 for instance, to support display a remoting protocol (e.g.,HDX or ICA). In some embodiments, the remote session agent 416 canestablish a remote desktop session and/or remote application session inaccordance to any variety of protocols, such as the Remote DesktopProtocol (RDP), Appliance Link Protocol (ALP), Remote Frame Buffer (RFB)Protocol, and ICA Protocol. For example, the remote session agent 416can establish a remote application session for a user of the clientdevice to access an enterprise network application. The remote sessionagent 416 can establish the remote application session within or over asecure connection (e.g., a VPN) established by the networking agent 412for instance.

The client application or CEB can include or be associated with a securecontainer 418. A secure container can include a logical or virtualdelineation of one or more types of resources accessible within theclient device and/or accessible by the client device. For example, thesecure container 418 can refer to the entirety of the secured portion ofthe digital workspace, or particular aspect(s) of the secured portion.In some embodiments, the secure container 418 corresponds to a securecache (e.g., electronic or virtual clipboard), and can dynamicallyincorporate a portion of a local cache of each client device of a user,and/or a cloud-based cache of the user, that is protected or secured(e.g., encrypted). The secure container can define a portion of filesystem(s), and/or delineate resources allocated to a CEB and/or tonetwork applications accessed via the CEB. The secure container caninclude elements of the secure data container 228 discussed above inconnection with FIG. 2 for example. The CEB can be configured (e.g., viapolicies) to limit, disallow or disable certain actions or activities onresources and/or data identified to be within a secure container. Asecured container can be defined to specify that the resources and/ordata within the secure container are to be monitored for misuse, abuseand/or exfiltration.

In certain embodiments, a secure container relates to or involves theuse of a secure browser (e.g., embedded browser 410 or secure browser420) that implements various enterprise security features. Networkapplications (or web pages accessed by the secure browser) that areconfigured to run within the secure browser can effectively inherit thesecurity mechanisms implemented by the secure browser. These networkapplications can be considered to be contained within the securecontainer. The use of such a secure browser can enable an enterprise toimplement a content filtering policy in which, for example, employeesare blocked from accessing certain web sites from their client devices.The secure browser can be used, for example, to enable client deviceusers to access a corporate intranet without the need for a VPN.

In some embodiments, a secure container can support various types ofremedial actions for protecting enterprise resources. One such remedy isto lock the client device, or a secure container on the client devicethat stores data to be protected, such that the client device or securecontainer can only be unlocked with a valid code provided by anadministrator for instance. In some embodiments, these and other typesof remedies can be invoked automatically based on conditions detected onthe client device (via the application of policies for instance), or canbe remotely initiated by an administrator.

In some embodiments, a secure container can include a secure documentcontainer for documents. A document can comprise any computer-readablefile including text, audio, video, and/or other types of information ormedia. A document can comprise any single one or combination of thesemedia types. As explained herein, the secure container can help preventthe spread of enterprise information to different applications andcomponents of the client device, as well as to other devices. Theenterprise system (which can be partially or entirely within a cloudnetwork) can transmit documents to various devices, which can be storedwithin the secure container. The secure container can preventunauthorized applications and other components of the client device fromaccessing information within the secure container. For enterprises thatallow users to use their own client devices for accessing, storing, andusing enterprise data, providing secure container on the client deviceshelps to secure the enterprise data. For instance, providing securecontainers on the client devices can centralize enterprise data in onelocation on each client device, and can facilitate selective or completedeletion of enterprise data from each client device when desired.

The secure container can include an application that implements a filesystem that stores documents and/or other types of files. The filesystem can comprise a portion of a computer-readable memory of theclient device. The file system can be logically separated from otherportions of the computer-readable memory of the client device. In thisway, enterprise data can be stored in a secure container and privatedata can be stored in a separate portion of the computer-readable memoryof the client device for instance. The secure container can allow theCEB, network applications accessed via the CEB, locally installedapplications and/or other components of the client device to read from,write to, and/or delete information from the file system (if authorizedto do so). Deleting data from the secure container can include deletingactual data stored in the secure container, deleting pointers to datastored in the secure container, deleting encryption keys used to decryptdata stored in the secure container, and the like. The secure containercan be installed by, e.g., the client application, an administrator, orthe client device manufacturer. The secure container can enable some orall of the enterprise data stored in the file system to be deletedwithout modifying private data stored on the client device outside ofthe secure container. The file system can facilitate selective orcomplete deletion of data from the file system. For example, anauthorized component of the enterprise's system can delete data from thefile system based on, e.g., encoded rules. In some embodiments, theclient application can delete the data from the file system, in responseto receiving a deletion command from the enterprise's system.

The secure container can include an access manager that governs accessto the file system by applications and other components of the clientdevice. Access to the file system can be governed based on documentaccess policies (e.g., encoded rules) maintained by the clientapplication, in the documents and/or in the file system. A documentaccess policy can limit access to the file system based on (1) whichapplication or other component of the client device is requestingaccess, (2) which documents are being requested, (3) time or date, (4)geographical position of the client device, (5) whether the requestingapplication or other component provides a correct certificate orcredentials, (6) whether the user of the client device provides correctcredentials, (7) other conditions, or any combination thereof. A user'scredentials can comprise, for example, a password, one or more answersto security questions (e.g., What is the mascot of your high school?),biometric information (e.g., fingerprint scan, eye-scan), and the like.Hence, by using the access manager, the secure container can beconfigured to be accessed only by applications that are authorized toaccess the secure container. As one example, the access manager canenable enterprise applications installed on the client device to accessdata stored in the secure container and to prevent non-enterpriseapplications from accessing the data stored in the secure container.

Temporal and geographic restrictions on document access may be useful.For example, an administrator may deploy a document access policy thatrestricts the availability of the documents (stored within the securecontainer) to a specified time window and/or a geographic zone (e.g., asdetermined by a GPS chip) within which the client device must reside inorder to access the documents. Further, the document access policy caninstruct the secure container or client application to delete thedocuments from the secure container or otherwise make them unavailablewhen the specified time period expires or if the client device is takenoutside of the defined geographic zone.

Some documents can have access policies that forbid the document frombeing saved within the secure container. In such embodiments, thedocument can be available for viewing on the client device only when theuser is logged in or authenticated via the cloud services for example.

The access manager can also be configured to enforce certain modes ofconnectivity between remote devices (e.g., an enterprise resource orother enterprise server) and the secure container. For example, theaccess manager can require that documents received by the securecontainer from a remote device and/or sent from the secure container tothe remote device be transmitted through secured tunnels/connections,for example. The access manager can require that all documentstransmitted to and from the secure container be encrypted. The clientapplication or access manager can be configured to encrypt documentssent from the secure container and decrypt documents sent to the securecontainer. Documents in the secure container can also be stored in anencrypted form.

The secure container can be configured to prevent documents or dataincluded within documents or the secure container from being used byunauthorized applications or components of the client device or otherdevices. For instance, a client device application having authorizationto access documents from the secure container can be programmed toprevent a user from copying a document's data and pasting it intoanother file or application interface, or locally saving the document ordocument data as a new file outside of the secure container. Similarly,the secure container can include a document viewer and/or editor that donot permit such copy/paste and local save operations. Moreover, theaccess manager can be configured to prevent such copy/paste and localsave operations. Further, the secure container and applicationsprogrammed and authorized to access documents from the secure containercan be configured to prevent users from attaching such documents toemails or other forms of communication.

One or more applications (e.g., applications installed on the clientdevice, and/or network applications accessed via the CEB) can beprogrammed or controlled (e.g., via policy-based enforcement) to writeenterprise-related data only into the secure container. For instance, anapplication's source code can be provided with the resource name of thesecure container. Similarly, a remote application (e.g., executing on adevice other than the client device) can be configured to send data ordocuments only to the secure container (as opposed to other componentsor memory locations of the client device). Storing data to the securecontainer can occur automatically, for example, under control of theapplication, the client application, and/or the secure browser. Theclient application can be programmed to encrypt or decrypt documentsstored or to be stored within the secure container. In certainembodiments, the secure container can only be used by applications (onthe client device or a remote device) that are programmed to identifyand use the secure container, and which have authorization to do so.

The network applications 406 can include sanctioned network applications426 and non-sanctioned network applications 428. By way of anon-limiting example, sanctioned network applications 426 can includenetwork applications from Workday, Salesforce, Office 365, SAP, and soon, while non-sanctioned network applications 426 can include networkapplications from Dropbox, Gmail, and so on. For instance, FIG. 4illustrates a case where sanctioned applications 426 are accessed via aCEB. In operation (1), a user instance of a client application 404, thatis installed on client device 402, can register or authenticate with theaccess gateway 422 of cloud services 408. For example, the user canauthenticate the user to the client device and login to the clientdevice 402. The client application can automatically execute, or beactivated by the user. In some embodiments, the user can sign in to theclient application (e.g., by authenticating the user to the clientapplication). In response to the login or sign-in, the clientapplication can register or authenticate the user and/or the clientapplication with the access gateway 422.

In operation (2), in response to the registration or authentication, theaccess gateway 422 can identify or retrieve a list of enumerated networkapplications available or pre-assigned to the user, and can provide thelist to the client application. For example, in response to theregistration or authentication, the access gateway can identify the userand/or retrieve a user profile of the user. According to the identityand/or user profile, the access gateway can determine the list (e.g.,retrieve a stored list of network applications matched with the userprofile and/or the identity of the user). The list can correspond to alist of network applications sanctioned for the user. The access gatewaycan send the list to the client application or embedded browser, whichcan be presented via the client application or embedded browser to theuser (e.g., in a storefront user interface) for selection.

In operation (3), the user can initiate connection to a sanctionednetwork application (e.g., a SaaS application), by selecting from thelist of network applications presented to the user. For example, theuser can click on an icon or other representation of the sanctionednetwork application, displayed via the client application or embeddedbrowser. This user action can trigger the CEB to transmit a connectionor access request to a server that provisions the network application.The request can include a request to the server (e.g., SaaS provider) tocommunicate with the access gateway to authenticate the user. The servercan send a request to the access gateway to authenticate the user forexample.

In operation (4), the access gateway can perform SSO with the server, toauthenticate the user. For example, in response to the server's requestto authenticate the user, the access gateway can provide credentials ofthe user to the server(s) 430 for SSO, to access the selected networkapplication and/or other sanctioned network applications. In operation(5), the user can log into the selected network application, based onthe SSO (e.g., using the credentials). The client application (e.g., thenetworking agent 412 and/or the remote session agent 416) can establisha secure connection and session with the server(s) 430 to access theselected network application. The CEB can decrypt application trafficreceived via the secure connection. The CEB can monitor traffic sent viathe CEB and the secured connection to the servers 430.

In operation (6), the client application can provide information to theanalytics services 424 of cloud services 408, for analytics processing.For example, the cloud services agent 414 of the client application 404can monitor for or capture user interaction events with the selectednetwork application. The cloud services agent 414 can convey the userinteraction events to the analytics services 424, to be processed toproduce analytics.

FIG. 5 depicts an example embodiment of a system for using a securebrowser. In brief overview, the system includes cloud services 408,network applications 406 and client device 402. In some embodiments,various elements of the system are similar to that described above forFIG. 4, but that the client application (with embedded browser) is notavailable in the client device 402. A standard or typical browser may beavailable on the client device, from which a user can initiate a requestto access a sanctioned network application for instance. A networkapplication can be specified as being sanctioned or unsanctioned viapolicies that can be set by an administrator or automatically (e.g., viaartificial intelligence).

For example, in operation (1), the user may log into the networkapplication using the standard browser. For accessing a sanctionednetwork application, the user may access a predefined URL and/orcorresponding webpage of a server that provisions the networkapplication, via the standard browser, to initiate a request to accessthe network application. In some embodiments, the request can beforwarded to or intercepted by a designated gateway service (e.g., in adata path of the request). For example, the gateway service can resideon the client device (e.g., as an executable program), or can reside ona network device 432 of the cloud services 408 for instance. In someembodiments, the access gateway can correspond to or include the gatewayservice. The gateway service can determine if the requested networkapplication is a sanctioned network application. The gateway service candetermine if a CEB initiated the request. The gateway service can detector otherwise determine that the request is initiated from a source(e.g., initiated by the standard browser) in the client device otherthan a CEB. In some embodiments, there is no requirement for adesignated gateway service to detect or determine if the request isinitiated from a CEB, for example if the requested network applicationis sanctioned, that user is initiating the request via a standardbrowser, and/or that the predefined URL and/or corresponding webpage isaccessed.

In operation (2), the server may authenticate the user via the accessgateway of the cloud services 408. The server may communicate with theaccess gateway to authenticate the user, in response to the request. Forinstance, the request can include an indication to the server tocommunicate with the access gateway to authenticate the user. In someembodiments, the server is pre-configured to communicate with the accessgateway to authenticate the user, for requests to access a sanctionednetwork application. The server may send a request to the access gatewayto authenticate the user. In response to the server's request toauthenticate the user, the access gateway can provide credentials of theuser to the server 430.

In operation (3), the gateway service and/or the server can direct (orredirect) all traffic to a secure browser 420 which provides a securebrowsing service. This may be in response to at least one of: adetermination that the requested network application is a sanctionednetwork application, a determination that the request is initiated froma source other than a CEB, a determination that the requested networkapplication is sanctioned, a determination that user is initiating therequest via a standard browser, and/or a determination that thepredefined URL and/or corresponding webpage is accessed.

The user's URL session can be redirected to the secure browser. Forexample, the server, gateway service and/or the access gateway cangenerate and/or send a URL redirect message to the standard browser,responsive to the determination. The secure browser plug-in of thestandard browser can receive the URL redirect message, and can forexample send a request to access the non-sanctioned network application,to the secure browser 420. The secure browser 420 can direct the requestto the server of the non-sanctioned network application. The URLredirect message can instruct the standard browser (and/or the securebrowser plug-in) to direct traffic (e.g., destined for the networkapplication) from the standard browser to the secure browser 420 hostedon a network device. This can provide clientless access and control viadynamic routing though a secure browser service. In some embodiments, aredirection of all traffic to the secure browser 420 is initiated orconfigured, prior to performing authentication of the user (e.g., usingSSO) with the server.

In some embodiments, the gateway service can direct or request theserver of the requested network application to communicate with thesecure browser 420. For example, the gateway service can direct theserver and/or the secure browser to establish a secured connectionbetween the server and the secure browser, for establishing anapplication session for the network application.

In some embodiments, the secured browser 420 comprises a browser that ishosted on a network device 432 of the cloud services 408. The securedbrowser 420 can include one or more features of the secured browser 420described above in connection with at least FIG. 4 for instance. Thehosted browser can include an embedded browser of a CEB that is hostedon the network device 432 instead of on the client device. The hostedbrowser can include an embedded browser of a hosted virtualized versionof the CEB that is hosted on the network device 432. Similar to the CEBinstalled on the client device, traffic is routed through the CEB hostedon the network device, which allows an administrator to have visibilityof the traffic through the CEB and to remain in control for securitypolicy control, analytics, and/or management of performance.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example implementation for browser redirectionusing a secure browser plug-in. In brief overview, the implementationincludes a web browser 512 with a secure browser plug-in 516 operatingon a client device, and a hosted web browser (or secure browser) 522residing on a network device. The web browser 512 can correspond to astandard browser, instead of an embedded browser as discussed above inconnection with FIG. 4 for example. The secure browser plug-in 516 canexecute within a first network 510 and access a server 430 in a secondnetwork 530. The first network 510 and the second network 530 are forillustration purposes and may be replaced with fewer or additionalcomputer networks. A secure browser plug-in 516 can be installed on thestandard browser 512. The plug-in can include one or more components.One such component can include an ActiveX control or Java control or anyother type and/or form of executable instructions capable of loadinginto and executing in the standard browser. For example, the standardbrowser can load and run an Active X control of the secure browserplug-in 516, in a memory space or context of the standard browser. Insome embodiments, the secure browser plug-in can be installed as anextension on the standard browser, and a user can choose to enable ordisable the plugin or extension. The secure browser plug-in cancommunicate and/or operate with the secured browser 420 for securing,using and/or accessing resources within the secured portion of thedigital workspace.

By using the secure browser plug-in 516 operating within the standardbrowser 512 network applications accessed via the standard browser 512can be redirected to a hosted secure browser. For instance, the securebrowser plug-in 516 can be implemented and/or designed to detect that anetwork application is being accessed via the standard browser, and candirect/redirect traffic from the client device associated with thenetwork application, to the hosted secure browser. The hosted securebrowser can direct traffic received from the network application, to thesecure browser plug-in 516 and/or a client agent 514 for renderingand/or display for example. The client agent 514 can execute within theweb browser 512 and/or the secure browser plug-in, and can includecertain elements or features of the client application 404 discussedabove in connection with at least FIG. 4 for example. For instance, theclient agent 514 can include a remote session agent 416 for renderingthe network application at the web browser 512. In some embodiments, thenetwork application is rendered at the hosted secure browser, and therendered data is conveyed or mirrored to the secure browser plug-in 516and/or the client agent 514 for processing and/or display.

By way of an example, a user may be working remotely and may want toaccess a network application that is internal to a secure corporatenetwork while the user is working on a computing device connected to anunsecure network. In this case, the user may be utilizing the standardbrowser 512 executing in the first network 510, in which the firstnetwork 510 may comprise an unsecure network. The server 430 that theuser wants to access may be on the second network 530, in which thesecond network 530 comprises a secure corporate network for instance.The user might not be able to access the server 430 from the unsecurefirst network 510 by clicking on an internal uniform record locator(URL) for the secure website 532. That is, the user may need to utilizea different URL (e.g., an external URL) while executing the standardbrowser 512 from the external unsecure network 510. The external URL maybe directed to or may address one or more hosted web browsers 522configured to access server(s) 430 within the second network 530 (e.g.,secure network). To maintain secure access, the secure browser plug-in516 may redirect an internal URL to an external URL for a hosted securebrowser.

The secure browser plug-in 516 may be able to implement networkdetection in order to identify whether or not to redirect internal URLsto external URLs. The standard browser 512 may receive a requestcomprising an internal URL for a website executing within the securenetwork. For example, the standard browser 512 may receive the requestin response to a user entering a web address (e.g., for secure website532) in the standard browser. The secure browser plug-in 516 mayredirect the user web browser application 512 from the internal URL toan external URL for a hosted web browser application. For example, thesecure browser plug-in 516 may replace the internal URL with an externalURL for the hosted web browser application 522 executing within thesecure network 530.

The secure browser plug-in 516 may allow the client agent 514 to beconnected to the hosted web browser application 522. The client agent514 may comprise a plug-in component, such as an ActiveX control or Javacontrol or any other type and/or form of executable instructions capableof loading into and executing in the standard browser 512. For example,the client agent 514 may comprise an ActiveX control loaded and run by astandard browser 512, such as in the memory space or context of the userweb browser application 512. The client agent 514 may be pre-configuredto present the content of the hosted web browser application 522 withinthe user web browser application 512.

The client agent 514 may connect to a server or the cloud/hosted webbrowser service 520 using a thin-client or remote-display protocol topresent display output generated by the hosted web browser application522 executing on the service 520. The thin-client or remote- displayprotocol can be any one of the following non-exhaustive list ofprotocols: the Independent Computing Architecture (ICA) protocoldeveloped by Citrix Systems, Inc. of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; or the RemoteDesktop Protocol (RDP) manufactured by the Microsoft Corporation ofRedmond, Wash.

The hosted web browser application 522 may navigate to the requestednetwork application in full-screen mode, and can render the requestednetwork application. The client agent 514 may present the content orrendition of the network application on the web browser application 512in a seamless and transparent manner such that it appears that thecontent is being displayed by the standard browser 512, e.g., based onthe content being displayed in full screen mode. In other words, theuser may be given the impression that the website content is displayedby the user web browser application 512 and not by the hosted webbrowser application 522. The client agent 514 may transmit navigationcommands generated by the user web browser application 512 to the hostedweb browser application 522 using the thin-client or remote-displayprotocol. Changes to the display output of the hosted web browserapplication 522, due to the navigation commands, may be reflected in theuser web browser application 512 by the client agent 514, giving theimpression to the user that the navigation commands were executed by theuser web browser application 512.

Referring again to FIG. 5, and in operation (4), a new browser tab canopen on the standard browser, to render or display the secure browsersession. The new browser tab can be established or opened by the securebrowser plug-in for instance. The secure browser plug-in and/or a clientagent can receive data from the secure browser session, and can renderthe network application within the new browser tab as discussed above inconnection with FIG. 6 for instance.

In operation (5), the secure browser can feed all user interactionevents via the network application, back to analytics service forprocessing. The secure browser plug-in can monitor for and intercept anyuser interaction events directed to the rendition of the networkapplication within the browser tab. Hence, a user can use a native (orstandard) browser to access a network application while allowingvisibility into the network application's traffic, via theinteroperation of cloud services and a secure browser (in the absence ofthe client application).

FIG. 7 depicts another example embodiment of a system of using a securebrowser. In brief overview, the system includes cloud services 408,network applications 406 and the client device 402. In some embodiments,various elements of the system are similar to that described above forFIG. 5. A client application with embedded browser is not available inthe client device 402. A standard or typical (e.g., HTML5) browser isavailable on the client device, from which a user can initiate a requestto access a non-sanctioned network application. A network applicationcan be specified as being sanctioned or non-sanctioned via policies thatcan be set by an administrator or automatically (e.g., via artificialintelligence).

In operation (1), the user may attempt to log into a non-sanctionednetwork application using the standard browser. The user may attempt toaccess a webpage of a server that provisions the network application,and to initiate a request to access the network application. In someembodiments, the request can be forwarded to or intercepted by adesignated gateway service (e.g., in a data path of the request). Forexample, the gateway service (sometimes referred to as SWG) can resideon the client device (e.g., as an executable program), or can reside ona network device 432 of the cloud services 408 for instance. The gatewayservice can detect or otherwise determine if the requested networkapplication is a sanctioned network application. The gateway service candetermine if a CEB initiated the request. The gateway service can detector otherwise determine that the request is initiated from a source(e.g., initiated by the standard browser) in the client device otherthan a CEB.

In operation (2), the gateway service detects that the requested networkapplication is a non-sanctioned network application. The gateway servicecan for instance extract information from the request (e.g., destinationaddress, name of the requested network application), and compare theinformation against that from a database of sanctioned and/ornon-sanctioned network applications. The gateway service can determine,based on the comparison, that the requested network application is anon-sanctioned network application.

In operation (3), responsive to the determination, the gateway servicecan block access to the requested network application, e.g., by blockingthe request. The gateway service can generate and/or send a URL redirectmessage to the standard browser, responsive to the determination. TheURL redirect message can be similar to a URL redirect message sent fromthe server to the standard browser in FIG. 5 in operation (3). A securebrowser plug-in of the standard browser can receive the URL redirectmessage, and can for example send a request to access the non-sanctionednetwork application, to the secure browser 420. The secure browser 420can direct the request to the server of the non-sanctioned networkapplication.

The server of the non-sanctioned network application may authenticatethe user via the access gateway of the cloud services 408, e.g.,responsive to receiving the request from the secure browser. The servermay communicate with the access gateway to authenticate the user, inresponse to the request. The server may send a request to the accessgateway to authenticate the user. In response to the server's request toauthenticate the user, the access gateway can provide credentials of theuser to the server 430. Upon authentication, the secure browser (or acorresponding CEB) can establish a secured connection and an applicationsession with the server.

In operation (4), a new browser tab can open on the standard browser, torender or display the secure browser's application session. The newbrowser tab can be established or opened by the secure browser plug-infor instance. The secure browser plug-in and/or a client agent canreceive data from the secure browser session, and can render the networkapplication within the new browser tab as discussed above in connectionwith FIGS. 5-6 for instance.

In operation (5), the secure browser can feed all user interactionevents via the network application, back to analytics service forprocessing. The secure browser plug-in can monitor for and intercept anyuser interaction events directed to the rendition of the networkapplication within the browser tab. Hence, a user can use a native (orstandard) browser to access a network application while allowingvisibility into the network application's traffic, via theinteroperation of cloud services and a secure browser (in the absence ofthe client application).

In some embodiments, in the absence or non-availability of a CEB on theclient device, browser redirection is performed so that each requestednetwork application is accessed via a corresponding hosted securebrowser (or hosted CEB) for handling, instead of having all trafficredirected through a single hosted secure browser (or hosted CEB). Eachdedicated secure browser can provide compartmentalization and improvedsecurity.

The use of a CEB, whether hosted or local to the client device, canallow for end-to-end visibility of application traffic for analytics,service level agreement (SLA), resource utilization, audit, and so on.In addition to such visibility, the CEB can be configured with policiesfor managing and controlling any of these as well as other aspects. Forexample, DLP features can be supported, to control “copy and paste”activities, download of files, sharing of files, and to implementwatermarking for instance. As another example, the CEB can be configuredwith policies for managing and controlling access to local drives and/ordevice resources such as peripherals.

Referring now to FIG. 8, an example embodiment of a system for usinglocal embedded browser(s) and hosted secured browser(s) is depicted. Anenvironment is shown where different types of client devices 402A, 402Bmay be used (e.g., in a BYOD context), such that one may be locallyequipped with a suitable CEB, and another client device may not have asuitable local CEB installed. In such an environment, systems describedin FIGS. 4, 5 and 7 can be used to support each of the client devicesbased on the availability of a locally installed and suitable CEB.

FIG. 9 depicts an example process flow for using local embeddedbrowser(s) and hosted secured browser(s). The process flow can be usedin the environment described above in FIG. 8, to determine whether anembedded browser or a hosted secured browser should be used for eachclient device to access a network application. For example, in operation901, a HTTP client can attempt to access a web service (e.g., server ofa network application). In operation 903, the web service can redirectthe HTTP client to a gateway service for authentication. In operation905, the gateway service can determine if the HTTP client is a CEB. Ifso, in operation 909, the gateway service can determine if the CEB is asuitable CEB, e.g., capable of enforcing defined application policies.If so, in operation 911, the CEB is allowed access to the web service,and can enforce the defined policies.

If the gateway service determines that the HTTP client is not a CEB, thegateway service can cause a virtualized version of a CEB to beinitialized and hosted on a remote server (e.g., a network device 432 ofcloud services 408), in operation 907. In some embodiments, such ahosted CEB may already be available on a network device 432, and can beselected for use. For example in operation 911, the CEB is allowedaccess to the web service, and can enforce the defined policies.

If the gateway service determines that the HTTP client is a CEB, butthat the CEB is not a suitable CEB, the gateway service can cause avirtualized version of a CEB to be initialized and hosted on a remoteserver (e.g., a network device 432 of cloud services 408), in operation907. In some embodiments, such a hosted CEB may already be available ona network device 432, and can be selected for use. For example inoperation 911, the CEB is allowed access to the web service, and canenforce the defined policies.

In some embodiments, if the user is requesting access to a webapplication located in a company data center, the gateway service (incloud service or on premise) can allow access when the clientapplication with CEB is detected. Otherwise, the request can be routedto a service with the hosted virtualized version of the CEB, and thenaccess is authenticated and granted.

At operation 905 and/or operation 909 for instance, the decisions madeon whether the HTTP client is a CEB and whether it is a suitable CEB maybe determined by a number of factors. For example, to determine if theHTTP client is CEB, the gateway service may take into account factors,for example including at least one of: user Identity and strength ofauthentication, client Location, client IP Address, how trusted the useridentity, client location, client IP are, jailbreak status of the clientdevice, status of anti-malware software, compliance to corporate policyof the client device, and/or remote attestation or other evidence ofintegrity of the client software.

To determine if the CEB is able to honor or support all definedapplication policies (which may vary by client version, client OSplatform and other factors), the client device's software and gatewayservice may perform capability negotiation and/or exchange versioninformation. In some embodiments, the gateway service can query or checka version number or identifier of the CEB to determine if the CEB is asuitable CEB to use.

Driving all the traffic though the CEB then allows additional control ofcontent accessing SaaS and Web based systems. Data Loss Prevention (DLP)of SaaS and Web traffic can be applied through the CEB app with featuresincluding copy and paste control to other CEB access applications or ITmanaged devices. DLP can also be enforced by enabling content to bedownloaded only to designated file servers or services under IT control.

Referring now to FIG. 10, depicted is an example embodiment of a systemfor managing user access to webpages. Some webpages (or websites) areknown to be safe while others may be suspect. A user may access awebpage via a corresponding URL through a standard browser. For example,the user may click on a link corresponding to the URL, which may beincluded in an email being viewed using a mail application. An accessgateway (SWG) may intercept an access request generated by the clickingof the link, and can determine if the corresponding URL is safe orsuspect. If the URL is known to be safe, the access gateway can allowthe request to proceed to the corresponding website or web server. Ifthe URL is suspect, the access gateway can redirect the request to behandled via a hosted secure browser. The secure browser can requestaccess for, and access the webpage (on behalf of the standard browser),and can allow the webpage information to be conveyed to the standardbrowser, similar to the handling of a network application via browserredirection as discussed in connection with at least FIGS. 7 and 5.

C. Systems and Methods for Generating Training Content for Completion ofTasks and Recording Application Level Information of a User Across aPlurality of Network Applications

In various embodiments, a machine may monitor user interactions withapplications and may observe the interactions to learn to train lessadept users to interact with applications. For example, there is aspread between the most proficient users of an application or system,and the rest of the users who may not yet be as proficient. A clientapplication (e.g., “a SaaS container”) may watch and potentially recorduser interactions. By watching and potentially recording userinteractions by proficient users of a network application, training maybe created. For instance, for a given task within a network application,a machine may take various actions. A machine may (i) classify userinteractions into tasks, where each task might require multiple stepsacross multiple applications. The machine may (ii) identify a baselinefor how long it takes to accomplish a task. This is a task distributionacross the population of users that have attempted to complete the task.Note that the population of users may be across a subgroup in theenterprise, across the enterprise, or even across multiple enterprises(wisdom of the crowd) i.e. across the community of all users. Themachine may (iii) identify the set of users that are more proficient.The machine may (iv) identify “best practices” as the things that arecommon across the efficient user set and/or select a representative usersession from the proficient user set 613 as a training example. Themachine may (v) sanitize the training example—removing sensitiveinformation, identifiable information, etc. The machine may (vi)identify a user session that is taking longer that baseline plus somedeviation. The machine may (vii) offer the user of this session help. Ifthey click on help—the machine may show them a recording of the trainingexample. The machine may (viii) allow user to rate whether or not theexample was helpful. Finally, the machine may (ix) utilize this feedbackto pick superior samples from several training example.

Moreover, the machine may implement “imitation learning.” For instance,as machine learning gets more advanced, the observing machine can betrained to not just pick a single user run as the training example, butrather generalize across multiples runs across multiple users, tosynthetically create an “optimal” training example that can then be usedto train/help users attempting the task.

The machine may implement “optimized SaaS session recording.” Since thenetwork application sessions in the embedded browser (“SaaS sessions”)are fundamentally rendered from higher order representations—HTTP andHTML requests and responses, rather than video screen recordings, it ispossible to record and replay these sessions by recording and replayingthe higher level representations of them. For instance, the machine mayrecord http and html level session and interaction information (userinput, key/mouse movement, timing, etc.) and/or track browser sessionand browser state. For example, the machine may record the output to theHTML DOM that is actually rendered by the browser. The output may, invarious instances, be free from any JavaScript. This is in contrast tothe “input” which may be JavaScript with calls and dependencies tointernet services, etc. When replaying the content, executing JavaScriptis avoided and instead the recorded DOM representations are re-rendered.Secure SaaS as the mediating browser into which the original session wasrendered, is conveniently located at the right point of abstraction tobe able to record these highly efficient representations of user'sinteractions with the system. These representations are efficient bothin terms of bytes required to store them; but also because they are moremachine friendly, and therefore more amenable to analysis bymachines—e.g., to look for specific behaviors across a large collectionof recordings, or to use the records as subsequent input to machinelearning algorithms.

Referring to FIG. 11, depicted is a block diagram of one embodiment of asystem 1100 for presenting additional content for a network application406 accessed via an embedded browser 410 of a client application 1305.The system 1100 may include a client application 404 that includes anembedded browser 410 that can render information of a networkapplication 406 accessed via the client application 404. The clientapplication 404 may include a learning services agent 1110 whichinteroperates with the embedded browser 410 to provide learningservices. The learning services agent 1110 may also interoperate withcloud services 408 operating on network device(s) 432.

Cloud services 408 may include learning services 1112. The learningservices 1112 can be configured to exchange data with the learningservices agent 1110. This data can include data relating to generatingtraining content, selecting training content to serve or provide, orreceiving feedback on the training content which are rendered in theembedded browser 410 or the client application 404.

The learning services agent 1110 can include a script, instructions,code, one or more engines or components that can cause the clientapplication to provide training content to a user of the clientapplication. The training content can include content that can be usedby a user to perform one or more tasks on one or more networkapplications 406 accessed via an embedded browser 410 of the clientapplication 404. The client application 404 may be an instance of theclient application 404 previously detailed herein. The clientapplication 404 with the embedded browser 410 (CEB) can include anyelement of a CEB as previously described herein. The network applicationmay include any type or form of network application 406 previouslydetailed herein. In some embodiments, the client applications 404 mayexecute on a client device 402 operated by a user.

Each of the above-mentioned elements or entities is implemented inhardware, or a combination of hardware and software, in one or moreembodiments. Each component of the system 1100 may be implemented usinghardware or a combination of hardware or software detailed above inconnection with FIG. 1. For instance, each of these elements or entitiescan include any application, program, library, script, task, service,process or any type and form of executable instructions executing onhardware of a client device (e.g., the client applications 404). Thehardware includes circuitry such as one or more processors in one ormore embodiments.

With reference to FIG. 12, various components of a learning servicesagent 1110 are provided. Moreover, while these components are discussedwith reference to the learning services agent 1110 for convenience andbrevity, these components may, in whole or part, be aspects of thelearning services 1112. Thus, one may appreciate that reference tocomponents of the learning services agent 1110 may alternatively bereference to components of the learning services 1112 in variousconfigurations of the system 1100. Moreover, various configurations ofthe system may omit the learning services agent 1110, its role beinghandled by other aspects of the client applications 404, such as theembedded browser 410. Thus, the embedded browser 410 may be integratedinto the client application 404. Additionally, various configurations ofthe system may omit the learning services 1112, its role being handledby the cloud services 408, such as the access gateway 422 and/oranalytics services 424.

The learning services agent 1110 may include a session establisher 1202.The session establisher 1202 may establish one or more sessions betweennetwork applications 406 and a client application 404 of a client device402 of a user via the embedded browser 410 within the client application404. For example, a user may request to utilize, access or otherwisecommunicate with a network application 410.

Moreover, a user utilizing a network application may indicate a requestto utilize learning services (e.g., training content) in connection withthe network application. A session between the user (specifically, theclient application having the embedded browser and accessing the networkapplication at issue) and the learning services 1112 may be establishedby the learning services agent 1110 of the client application.

The learning services agent 1110 may include an input tracker 1204. Forexample, the input tracker 1204 may track, by the client application,user input and pointer movement of interactions by the user. As a userclicks a mouse, types on a keyboard, interacts with a touch screen,stimulates a microphone, or otherwise interacts with a human-to-machineinterface of the user device to provide inputs to (or receive outputsfrom) a network application, the input tracker 1204 can be configured toreceive these interactions.

The learning services agent 1110 may include an output representationinterceptor 1206. The output representation interceptor 1206 mayintercept, by the client application, output representation ofapplication layer protocol data of interactions of the user with theplurality of network applications accessed via the embedded browser 410of the client application 404. The output representation may beoutputted to a document object model for rendering by the embeddedbrowser. For instance, the network application may providehuman-readable content for provision to the user on a human-to-machineinterface of the user device. The output representation interceptor 1206also receives these outputs. The outputs may include data representinginteractions of a user with network applications.

In various instances, data representative of the output representationis encrypted. Thus, in various instances, the output representationinterceptor 1206 may also intercept data representative of the outputrepresentation at a point between decryption of content from a networkstack of the client device and rendering on the display of the clientdevice. The output representation interceptor 1206 may be configured toidentify data corresponding to the output representation of the networkapplication that is received by the client application from a server ofthe network application and use the data to determine if the userinteractions tracked by the input tracker 1204 correspond to aparticular task or activity.

The learning services agent 1110 may include a recording engine ormodule 1208. The recording module 1208 can be configured to monitor andrecord interactions performed by one or more users via the embeddedbrowser of the client application. The recording module 1208 can beconfigured to record interactions performed by a user accessing anetwork application via the embedded browser. The recording module 1208may be configured to intercept data at one or more layers of theembedded browser such that interactions performed by the user may beintercepted at one of the application layers of the embedded browser.

For example, the recording module 1208 may record the intercepted outputrepresentation and the tracked user input and pointer movement to recordthe one or more sessions of the user. The recording module 1208 maystore data representative of the output representation and/or thetracked user input and pointer movement. In this manner, the inputs andthe outputs mentioned elsewhere as being provided to an interactionreceiver 1302 of the learning services 1112 (see FIG. 13) may becollected.

The learning services agent 1110 may include a state tracker 1210. Forexample, the state tracker 1210 may track a state of the one or moresessions and the embedded browser. In some embodiments, the statetracker 1210 may track the client application including a state of theclient application. In some embodiments, the state tracker 1210 maytrack the embedded browser and one or more states of the embeddedbrowser. For example, a state of the session and/or embedded browser mayinclude information regarding whether a user is presently interacting orpreviously interacted with the one or more sessions, the clientapplication, or the embedded browser. The state of the session and/orembedded browser may include information regarding whether outputs arebeing provided or inputs are being provided. Similarly, the state of thesession and/or embedded browser may include, information regardingwhether an error exists, or whether a successful completion of aninteraction and/or task occurred. The state may be provided to the statetracker 1210 by the client application. Alternatively, the state tracker1210 may implement machine learning techniques to determine the state ofthe session. The state corresponds to the user interactions, such as togive context to the user interaction to augment the inputs collected bythe input tracker 1204 and/or outputs collected by the outputrepresentation interceptor 1206.

With reference to FIG. 13, various components of the learning services1112 are provided. Moreover, while these components are discussed withreference to the learning services 1112 for convenience and brevity,these components may, in whole or part, be aspects of the learningservices agent 1110. Thus, one may appreciate that reference tocomponents of the learning services 1112 may alternatively be referenceto components of the learning services agent 1110 in variousconfigurations of the system 1100. Moreover, various configurations ofthe system 1100 may omit the learning services agent 1110, its rolebeing handled by other aspects of the client applications 404, such asthe embedded browser 410. Additionally, various configurations of thesystem 1100 may omit the learning services 1112, its role being handledby the cloud services 408, such as the access gateway 422 and/oranalytics services 424.

The learning services 1112 may include an interaction receiver 1302. Forexample, the interaction receiver 1302 may receive, from each clientapplication of a plurality of client applications executing onrespective client devices, interactions recorded by the clientapplication via an embedded browser of the client application. Othermechanisms of recordation of the interactions are also contemplated. Invarious embodiments, the interactions are recorded by the recordingmodule 1208 (FIG. 12) of the learning services agent 1110 (FIG. 12). Theinteraction receiver 1302 may receive the data representative of theinteractions and provide it to other aspects of the learning services1112 and/or transmit it to the learning services agent 1110. Theinteraction receiver 1302 may receive a variety of types ofinteractions. For example, interactions may include a user click on ascreen display object, such as a click button or a radio button.Interactions may include a user scroll on a screen display object, suchas scrolling a display object up, down, left, right, etc. Interactionsmay include a user data entry such as typing data into a field of ascreen display object such as a text field. Interactions may include auser mouse or touch screen action.

In various embodiments, the client application 404 intercepts outputrepresentation of application layer protocol data of interactions of auser with the plurality of network applications. The outputrepresentation can be outputted to a document object model for renderingby the embedded browser. In various embodiments, the interception iscarried out by the learning services agent 1110. For instance, theoutput representation interceptor 1206 mentioned above may intercept theoutput representation of application layer protocol data of interactionsof a user with the plurality of network applications

The learning services 1112 may include an interaction classifier 1304.The interaction classifier 1304 may classify the interactions receivedfrom each client application into one or more tasks. Each task of theone or more tasks can include multiple interactions across one or morenetwork applications of one or more second servers of a second entity,such as servers of vendors of the network applications.

Different user interactions may exist in relation to different networkapplications. Moreover, different network applications may haveassociated with them novel or rare user interactions. For example, adictation/text-to-speech application may have an associated sound inputor sound output while a data processing application may have anassociated keyboard input for receiving mathematical inputs and may havean graphical screen display objects for generating graphical chartoutputs. Thus the different user interactions may be categoricallydifferent from one another. Different user interactions may also becategorically similar to one another. For example, data entry in a wordprocessing application may be a user interaction categorically similarto data entry in a spreadsheet application.

As used herein tasks can, in some embodiments, refer to a categoricalgrouping of related user interactions. In addition, user interactionsthat initially appear similar may actually be categorically differenttasks. For example, button clicks in a workflow of a first computergaming network application may be a categorical task that is differentfrom button clicks in a workflow of an email network application.

A task may be a collection of interactions performed on or by a clientdevice to complete operation of a workflow. One example task may includefilling out a form. Another example task may include inputting ausername and password in fields of a network application. A task mayalso include, for example, creating a calendar invitation responsive toreceiving an email in an email-based network application. Other exampletasks may be referenced or discussed elsewhere herein.

Moreover, tasks may have a start and an end. For example, a task mayinclude the popping up of a window, the user interaction with thewindow, and the user confirmation of the completion of the userinteraction with the window. A task may begin with the display of anerror message indicating a required field has not been filled in a formdisplayed on a screen. The task may continue with data entry by a userinto the required field. The task may conclude with the user clicking asave or submit button to direct the saving of the data entered into theform. Because many different tasks are contemplated and untold new tasksconceivable, as well as many different user interactions arecontemplated and untold new user interactions conceivable, tasks anduser interactions may be provided in a database table. In furtherinstances, tasks may be determined by machine learning algorithms asuser interactions are monitored over time and categorized by machinelearning processes, or in provided database tables.

The learning services 1112 includes an interaction aggregator 1206. Theinteraction aggregator 1306 operates to compile classified interactions(e.g., interactions grouped into a common task) together from themultiple interactions across the one or more network applications andprovide the aggregated classified interactions to a task categorizationmanager 1308. For instance, many users may utilize a networkapplication. Similarly, a user may utilize many network applications.Emergent behavior patterns are discernable in aggregated data of manyinteractions. Interactions may be aggregated into tasks based on theoperative objective of an type of interaction (e.g., saving a document,closing an application, creating a Boolean search command, etc.).Interactions may be aggregated into tasks based on the nature of theinteraction (e.g., keyboard selection of spelling and grammar checkingfunctions to provide data entry may be a same task, while keyboardtyping to provide gameplay commands for a computer game may be adifferent task). The interactions may also be aggregated into tasksbased on characteristics of the interaction (e.g., mouse clickinteractions with an internet browsing application may all be adifferent task than mouse scroll wheel interactions with an internetbrowsing application). The interaction aggregator 1306 groupsinteractions into a common task based on the identity of the networkapplication that the user is interacting with (e.g., off-target mouseclicks during a computer game are typical and ignored, whereasoff-target mouse clicks that during the completion of a form may begrouped into a common task, such as a task related to clicking smallradio buttons in the form to enter data). The interaction aggregator1306 may group interactions into a common task based on the nature ofthe interaction across many applications, for instance, typinginteractions may be grouped into a common task across many applications,such as a task related to accurate keyboarding.

The learning services 1112 includes a task categorization manager 1308.In view of the aggregation of many user interactions, the taskcategorization manager 1308 may provide a database of the aggregatedclassified interactions sorted into the one or more tasks. Theaggregated classified interactions may provide data representative oftrends associated with user interactions. For example, aggregatedclassified interactions may demonstrate that many users click in a wronglocation adjacent to a screen display object but missing the screendisplay object. While a single misdirected click may be mereinadvertence, a pattern may emerge suggesting that additional trainingis needed for some or all users related to the proper clicking on theproper location.

In various embodiments, at least one task of the one or more tasks isdefined by a plurality of interactions across a plurality of networkapplications. For instance, a task, such as typing common words may bedefined by a plurality of interactions, such as typing the relevantwords in different applications, such as word processors, emailsoftware, spreadsheet software, and accounting software. The pluralityof interactions may extend across a plurality of network applications.Emergent patterns may be identified based on the plurality ofinteractions on different network applications. The patterns may suggestthat algorithmic changes are needed for some or all users—regardless ofwhich network applications a user implements. For instance, a pluralityof interactions may reveal that the proper use of a machine-humaninterface requires training for some or all users, based on aggregateuser experiences with completion of tasks.

The learning services 1112 may include a task selector 1310. The taskselector 1310 may select, for a first task of the one or more tasks,from the interactions classified into the first task, a subset ofinteractions to be included in a training content comprising a recordedexample of performing the first task across the one or more networkapplications. The task selector 1310 may provide the recorded example toa recorded example manager 1312. The recorded example manager 1312 mayinclude a database of the recorded examples. For instance, manyinteractions may be classified into the first task and stored by a taskcategorization manager 1308. Of these interactions, various interactionsmay be associated with best cases. For example, a highly efficientworkflow may involve interacting with different screen display objectsin a particular sequence. A recorded example manager 1312 may storehighly efficient workflows such as for later rendering to users.

Moreover, recorded examples of the recorded example manager 1312 may belarge files or computationally intensive to render as moving images.Correspondingly, in various embodiments, the interactions recorded bythe client applications may include an output to the Document ObjectModel rendered by the embedded browser. In this manner, datarepresentative of user interactions may be more efficiently provided byrepresenting the user interactions with an output to a Document ObjectModel rather than representing the user interactions with the recordingand playback of the displayed pixels of the screen and the userinteraction with each such pixel, etc. This may improve the speed ofprocessing and reduce network bandwidth consumed, improving theoperation of a computer network.

The learning services 1112 may include a training content generator1314. For example, the training content generator 1314 may generate thetraining content configured to be transmitted to client applicationsresponsive to receiving a request related to the first task by a taskrequest receiver 1316. A task request receiver 1316 may receive, from auser or from another aspect of a system, such as an embedded browser, arequest for training content. For instance, a user may interact with aclient application to provide a request for training content connectedwith a task that the user is trying to complete. The user may click abutton in the client application 404 (FIG. 11), such as in an embeddedbrowser 410 (FIG. 11) of the client application 404 (FIG. 11).Alternatively, an aspect of the system, such as an embedded browser 410(FIG. 11) in communication with a learning services 1112 (FIG. 11) mayinteroperate to automatically transmit to the task request receiver1316, a request for training content. The task request receiver 1316 maytrigger the training content generator 1314 which generates trainingcontent for display to the user.

The training content may relate to the mentioned task that the user istrying to complete. Because interactions can be classified into tasks, adata set of many interactions all associated with a given task isavailable to the system, such as in the task categorization manager1308. Thus, the training content generator 1314 may access the taskcategorization manager 1308 and determine the task associated with theinstant user interaction by comparing the instant user interaction tothe data set of many interactions associated with the given task. Thetraining content generator 1314 may query the recorded example manager1312 and retrieve one or more recorded examples of the identified taskas a training content package. The training content generator 1314 mayalso query the recorded example manager 1312 and retrieve multiplerecorded examples of different identified tasks and generate a new,customized recorded example as a training content package. For example,a task may have multiple different interactions associated with aparticular sequence (e.g., the “critical path”). The training contentgenerator 1314 may generate training content associated with theexecution of the critical path. Consequently, recorded examples from therecorded example manager 1312 and/or tasks from the task categorizationmanager 1308 may be retrieved and, in some embodiments, via machinelearning, training content related in part to a plurality of recordedexamples and/or tasks may be assembled into a unique training contentpackage.

In some embodiments, the learning services 1112 can receive feedback onone or more training content the learning services provides to one ormore client applications. In some embodiments, the learning services1112 can receive feedback relating to a first training content packageand in response to the feedback, generate a second generated contentpackage responsive to determining that the feedback relating to thefirst training content package sat In some embodiments, the learningservice gateway 1112 can receive feedback relating to a first trainingcontent package and in response to the feedback satisfying apredetermined threshold, can generate a second training content packagethat is different from the first training content package based on thereceived feedback.

For example, a user may provide feedback to a feedback receiver 1324 ofthe learning service gateway 1112 via the embedded browser 410 and/orclient application 404. In some embodiments, the feedback receiver 1324or the client application 404 can provide an interface for presentationon the client device to prompt a user to provide feedback on a giventraining content. The client application can be configured to provide anactionable object, which when interacted with, enables a user to providefeedback. The feedback can be in the form of a numerical score between0-10; 1-5; or any other scale. In some embodiments, the feedback can bein the form of a response to a question “was this training contenthelpful?”. The feedback receiver 1324 may log received feedback relatingto the first training content package over time. The feedback receiver1324 may assign a score to the feedback that corresponds to the priorityof addressing the feedback. The feedback receiver 1324 may also assign ascore to the feedback that corresponds to the number of users providingthe same or similar feedback. For instance, the feedback receiver 1324may tally votes from users regarding satisfaction with features and/orthe feedback receiver 1324 may scan user narrative feedback for keywords.

The feedback receiver 1324 may compare the score, tally and/or key wordsto a pre-established threshold. The pre-established threshold can beused to provide an indication to the feedback receiver 1324 of a need tochange the first training content package to impel changes to thefeedback being received. The pre-established threshold can be used toprovide an indication to the feedback receiver 1324 of a potentialimprovement to the first training content package. In response to thedetermining that the feedback relating to the first training contentpackage satisfies the predetermined threshold, a second training contentpackage is generated by the one or more first servers on which thelearning service 1112 is executing, and specifically, is generated bythe training content generator 1314.

The feedback receiver 1324 interoperates with the training contentgenerator 1314 to incorporate the feedback to modify the trainingcontent package, such as by accessing different tasks from the taskcategorization manager 1308 or different recorded interactions from therecorded example manager 1312 so as to prepare the second trainingcontent package with different data than the first training contentpackage. In various instances, the feedback receiver 1324 interoperateswith a screen display object to receive feedback from a user. Forexample, in response to a feedback indicating lingering confusionsubsequent to provision of a training content package, the trainingcontent package may be modified. In response to feedback from many usersindicative of lingering confusion subsequent to provision of a trainingcontent package, the training content package may be retired from use.For instance, in response to a feedback indicating a score, tally and/orkey word(s) reaching a pre-established threshold, the training contentgenerator 1314, at the direction of the feedback receiver 1324, mayprovide different tasks from the task categorization manager 1308 and/ordifferent recorded interactions from the recorded example manager 1312.The training content generator 1314 may generate a second trainingcontent package with data corresponding to the different tasks and/ordifferent recorded interactions, for provision to a user in a secondtraining content package.

The learning services 1112 may include a baseline identifier 1318. Theone or more first servers on which the learning service 1112 isexecuting may be further configured to identify, based on the receivedinteractions (for example, those received from a user and/or thosestored by the recorded example manager 1312), a baseline identifying anamount of time for completing a certain task. For example, among anaggregate set of many user interactions associated with a particulartask by the task categorization manager 1308, there may be differentelapsed times associated with the different user interactions and/ordifferent tasks. For instance, the embedded browser 410 may time userinteractions and/or tasks and provide an elapsed time associated with auser interaction and/or a task to the baseline identifier 1318.

In various embodiments, the state tracker 1210 and/or recording module1208 of the learning services agent (FIG. 12) are configured to timedifferent user interactions and/or different tasks and transmit thistiming to the learning services 1112. In further embodiments, the expertuser identifier 1320 times user interactions and/or tasks, as mentionedherein below. An analysis of these times may be performed by thebaseline identifier 1318 to determine the expected time to complete thetask(s) by a user. For instance, a mean, a median, a mode, adistribution about a given deviation, a weighting function, and/or otheranalytic tools may provide for a time associated with a completion ofthe task by a certain percentage of users. By identifying a baselinetime by the baseline identifier 1318, the training content generator1314 may generate training content packages related to the improvementof user speed and/or may determine aspects of machine operation, such asscreen object display size and arrangement, needing further changes.Furthermore, one or more of the interactions may identify a networkapplication, a time stamp and an action performed by a user of theclient application that recorded the interaction.

The learning services 1112 may include an expert user identifier 1320.For example, the expert user identifier 1320 may identify, by the one ormore first servers on which the learning services 1112 is executing,based on the received interactions, a subset of users associated withthe plurality of client applications. Each user of the identified subsetof users can complete the task within a predetermined amount of time.For instance, the expert user identifier 1320 may analyze recordedinteractions of the recorded example manager 1312 and/or aggregatedclassified interactions of the task categorization manager 1308. As usedherein, analyzing may include determining an elapsed time associatedwith completion by the user of an interaction or a task. The analyzingmay include determining a count of attempts to by the user to achievecompletion of an interaction or task. In response to the analyzing, theexpert user identifier 1320 may isolate a subset of classifiedinteractions within a set associated with a task that evidenceparticularized user competence. For instance, an elapsed time tocompletion of an interaction or task may be below a threshold,suggesting a level of competence of the user with the interaction ortask. Similarly, a count of attempts by the user to complete aninteraction or task may be below a threshold, suggesting a level ofcompetence of the user with the interaction or task. Any other metricassociated with particularized user competence may be contemplated. Invarious instances, the threshold may be changed by the expert useridentifier 1320 based on the recorded interactions and/or aggregatedclassified interactions. For instance, the expert user identifier 1320may set the threshold at a 90^(th) percentile of all users. For example,the fastest 10 percent of users, or the most accurate 10 percent ofusers, may be expert users with particularized user competence.

The learning services 1112 may include a content sanitizer 1322. Thecontent sanitizer 1322 may remove content from data making up thegenerated training content prior to transmitting the generated trainingcontent. For instance, recorded examples and/or previously performedinteractions of tasks may be assembled into a training content package,as mentioned.

However, at least a portion of data making up the generated trainingcontent might contain sensitive information about users, devices,received inputs, and/or the like. For instance, if the recording recordsscreenshots in which confidential or sensitive information is beingdisplayed, the content sanitizer can be configured to identify thesensitive information and remove or obscure the information as part ofgenerating the training content. The sensitive information may beremoved from the data prior to the data being assembled into a trainingcontent package. The removal of the data corresponding to the sensitiveinformation may be termed, “sanitizing the generated training content.”While in various embodiments, the data is removed prior to generation ofa training content package, in further instances, a training contentpackage is generated, then sanitized. In one example, sensitive userinformation may be associated with a recorded example and/or task. Forinstance, a user interaction may include typing of personallyidentifying information. The training content package may be generatedrelating to the user interaction including typing, however, the contentsof the typing (personally identifying information) may be removed. Thus,the generated training content is sanitized.

The content sanitizer 1322 implements rules and/or machine learning toidentify content to be removed so that the generated training contentmaking up a training content package does not contain the removedcontent. For example, a table of words or phrases corresponding toremovable content may comprise a rule. Further rules may includeidentification of a flag associated with a field in a form that a userinteraction is affecting, for instance, an “address” field. Thegenerated training content may be prepared with the actual addressremoved. A further example may include an analysis of a sequence of userinteractions making up a task. For instance, clicking a “purchase”button prior to entering a 16 digit string of numerals indicates thatthe numerals are a credit card number, whereas activating a calculatorprior to entering a 16 digit string of numerals does not indicate thatthe numerals are content to be removed.

The learning services 1112 may include a feedback receiver 1324. Forexample, wherein the training content package is a first trainingcontent package, the learning services 1112 may receive feedbackrelating to the first training content package. Thereafter, the trainingcontent generator 1314 may generate, by the one or more first servers, asecond generated content package responsive to determining that thefeedback relating to the first training content package satisfies apredetermined threshold. As previously explained, feedback may include ascore or other numerical rating of the perceived effectiveness of thetraining content package that a user submits. A predetermined thresholdmay be an average score across multiple users or another metric, also aspreviously explained.

The learning services 1112 may include a user session length comparator1326 that interacts with the expert user identifier 1320. For example,the user session length comparator 1326 may receive, by the one or morefirst servers on which the learning services 1112 is executing, anindication from a second client application executing on a second clientdevice, that a user session is taking more time than a baseline amountof time to complete the first task. For instance, a second clientapplication executing on a second client device may be associated with auser who is attempting to use a client application. The learningservices 1112 may determine that training content related to the firsttask be provided to the second client device based on the user sessiontaking more than a baseline amount of time to complete the first task.Thereafter, the training content generator 1314 may transmit, by the oneor more first servers on which the learning services 1112 is executing,the generated content package responsive to receiving the indication.Briefly, a user may be taking abnormally long to complete a taskrelative to the baseline identified by the baseline identifier 1318. Theuser session length comparator 1326 may compare the elapsed time of theuser interaction(s) associated with the task to the baseline and inresponse to exceeding the baseline, may trigger the training contentgenerator 1314 to provide a training content package to the secondclient device.

Referring to FIG. 14, depicted is a flow diagram of one embodiment of amethod 1400 for generating training content for completion of tasks. Thefunctionalities of the method may be implemented using, or performed by,the components detailed herein in connection with FIGS. 1-13 and 15. Inbrief overview, a first server of a first entity may receiveinteractions recorded by a client application (1405). The first servermay classify the interactions into tasks (1410). The first server mayselect a task (1415). The first server may also generate trainingcontent related to the task (1420). The first server may receive thefeedback pertaining to the training content (1425) and update thetraining content based on the feedback.

Referring now to operation (1405), and in some embodiments, the methodincludes receiving, by one or more first servers of a first entity, fromeach client application of a plurality of client applications executingon respective client devices, interactions recorded by the clientapplication via an embedded browser of the client application. The firstservers of the first entity may include the servers that the learningservice 1112 is running on. For example, the first servers may benetwork devices 432 on which cloud services 408 (FIG. 11) are running.The learning services 1112 may include an interaction receiver 1302(FIG. 13) that receives the interactions. In various embodiments, theembedded browser is integrated into the client application. Theinteractions recorded by the client applications may include an outputto the

Document Object Model rendered by the embedded browser. The clientapplication may intercept output representation of application layerprotocol data of interactions of a user with the plurality of networkapplications. The output representation can be outputted to a documentobject model for rendering by the embedded browser.

Referring now to operation (1410), and in some embodiments, the methodincludes classifying, by the one or more first servers, the interactionsreceived from each client application into one or more tasks. Each taskof the one or more tasks may include multiple interactions across one ormore network applications of one or more second servers of a secondentity. One or more of the interactions may identify a networkapplication, a time stamp and an action performed by a user of theclient application that recorded the interaction. The interactionclassifier 1304 (FIG. 13) may classify the received interactions. Forexample, data entry in a word processing application may be a userinteraction categorically similar to data entry in a spreadsheetapplication. As used herein “tasks” can, in some embodiments, refer to acategorical grouping of related user interactions. In addition, userinteractions that initially appear similar may actually be categoricallydifferent tasks. For example, button clicks in a workflow of a firstcomputer gaming network application may be a categorical task that isdifferent from button clicks in a workflow of an email networkapplication. Moreover, tasks may have a start and an end. For example, atask may include the popping up of a window, the user interaction withthe window, and the user confirmation of the completion of the userinteraction with the window. The concept of a workflow may be a helpfultool for characterizing the nature of a task.

In some embodiments, at least one task of the one or more tasks isdefined by a plurality of interactions across a plurality of networkapplications. In other embodiments, at least one task of the one or moretasks is defined by a plurality of interactions with one networkapplications. Moreover, in various embodiments, the one or more firstservers identify, based on the received interactions, a baselineidentifying an amount of time for completing the task. The baseline maybe used to determine which users are particularly efficient and whoseinteractions associated with task completion may be incorporated into atraining content package. The baseline also may be used for otherdeterminations as discussed herein above.

Similarly, the method may include identifying, by the one or more firstservers, based on the received interactions, a subset of usersassociated with the plurality of client applications, each user of theidentified subset of users completing the task within a predeterminedamount of time. Once again, this subset of users may be flagged ashaving particularized user competence and whose interactions may beincorporated into a training content package.

Referring now to operation (1415), and in some embodiments, the methodincludes selecting, by the one or more first servers, for a first taskof the one or more tasks, from the interactions classified into thefirst task, a subset of interactions to be included in a trainingcontent comprising a recorded example of performing the first taskacross the one or more network application. In various instances, themethod further comprises removing content from the subset ofinteractions prior to transmitting the generated training content.

The subset of interactions may include those of one or more subset ofusers identified by the expert user identifier 1320 (FIG. 13) asexperts. The identified subset of users can complete the task associatedwith the subset of interactions within a predetermined amount of time.For instance determining an elapsed time or attempt count associatedwith completion by the user of an interaction or a task is one way todetermine which subset of interactions to include in training content.

The removing of content may be performed by the content sanitizer 1322(FIG. 13). For instance, recorded examples and/or tasks may be assembledinto a training content package, as mentioned. However, at least aportion of data making up the generated training content might containsensitive information about users, devices, received inputs, and/or thelike. In various embodiments, the data is removed prior to generation ofa training content package. In some embodiments, a training contentpackage is generated and then sanitized.

Finally, referring now to operation (1420), and in some embodiments, themethod includes generating, by the one or more first servers, thetraining content configured to be transmitted to client applicationsresponsive to receiving a request related to the first task. Forinstance, a user seeking to accomplish a first task via a clientapplication may transmit a request for training content, such as viaclicking a button within an embedded browser session. Similarly, theembedded browser and/or client application may provide a request fortraining content, such as because a user is exceeding a threshold amountof time in completing a first task. One may appreciate that thepre-established threshold mentioned above with respect to determine thata feedback indicates a score, tally and/or key word(s) reaching apre-established threshold may be triggered by the clicking by the userof a screen display object with a clickable button.

The training content may relate to the mentioned interaction that theuser is trying to complete. Because interactions can be classified intotasks, a data set of many interactions all associated with a given taskis available to the system. A training content generator may access thetask categorization manager and determine the task associated with theinstant user interaction by comparing the instant user interaction tothe data set of many interactions associated with the given task. Thetraining content generator may query the recorded example manager andretrieve one or more recorded examples of the identified task as atraining content package. The training content generator may also querythe recorded example manager and retrieve multiple recorded examples ofdifferent identified tasks and generate a new, customized recordedexample as a training content package.

Referring now to operation (1425), feedback may be received pertainingto the training content. For instance, the method may include receiving,by the one or more first servers, feedback relating to the firsttraining content package; and generating, by the one or more firstservers, a second generated content package responsive to determiningthat the feedback relating to the first training content packagesatisfies a predetermined threshold.

Moreover, in various instances, there may be received, by the one ormore first servers, an indication from a second client applicationexecuting on a second client device, that a user session is taking moretime than a baseline amount of time to complete the first task.Consequently, the method may also include transmitting, by the one ormore first servers, the generated content package responsive toreceiving the indication.

Referring to FIG. 15, depicted is a flow diagram of one embodiment of amethod 1500 for recording application level information of a user acrossa plurality of network applications for generating training content forcompletion of tasks. The functionalities of the method may beimplemented using, or performed by, the components detailed herein inconnection with FIGS. 1-14. In brief overview, a client application mayestablish a session (1505). The client application may trackinteractions by the user (1510). The client application may interceptoutput(s) (1515). The client application may record interceptedoutput(s) (1520). The client application may then store recorded session(operation 1525) and/or provide to the interaction receiver.

Referring now to operation (1505) and in some embodiments, the methodmay include establishing, by a client application, one or more sessionsof a user for a plurality of network applications established via anembedded browser within the client application. For example, a user mayindicate a request to utilize a network application. Moreover, a userutilizing a network application may indicate a request to utilizelearning services (e.g., training content) in connection with thenetwork application. For instance, a user may click a button, or anembedded browser and/or network application may automatically request toutilize learning services. A session between the user (specifically, theclient application having the embedded browser and accessing the networkapplication at issue) and the learning services may be established bythe learning services agent of the client application.

Referring now to operation (1510) and in some embodiments, the methodmay include tracking, by the client application, user input and pointermovement of interactions by the user. Moreover, the method may includetracking, by the client application, a state of the one or more sessionsand the embedded browser. As a user clicks a mouse, types on a keyboard,interacts with a touch screen, stimulates a microphone, or otherwiseinteracts with a human-to-machine interface of the user device toprovide inputs to (or receive outputs from) a network application, aninput tracker also receives these interactions.

Referring now to operation (1515) and in some embodiments, the methodmay include intercepting, by the client application, outputrepresentation of application layer protocol data of interactions of theuser with the plurality of network applications, the outputrepresentation outputted to a document object model for rendering by theembedded browser. Furthermore, the intercepting may includeintercepting, by the embedded browser, at a point between decryption ofcontent from a network stack of a client device and rendering on thedisplay of the client device. For instance, the network application mayprovide human-readable content for provision to the user on ahuman-to-machine interface of the user device. An output representationinterceptor also receives these outputs. The outputs may include datarepresenting interactions of a user with network applications. Theoutputs may be received by the output representation interceptor becausethe output representation interceptor is positioned parallel to thenetwork application and the user. In further instances, the outputs maybe received by the output representation interceptor because the outputrepresentation interceptor is positioned interstitially between thenetwork application and the user.

Referring now to operation (1520) and in some embodiments, the methodmay include recording, by the one or more client application, theintercepted output representation, the tracked user input and pointermovement, and/or the state to record the one or more sessions of theuser. The recorded session may be stored and/or provided to theinteraction receiver (operation 1525) such as for method 1400 forgenerating training content for completion of tasks (FIG. 14).

It should be understood that the systems described above may providemultiple ones of any or each of those components and these componentsmay be provided on either a standalone machine or, in some embodiments,on multiple machines in a distributed system. The systems and methodsdescribed above may be implemented as a method, apparatus or article ofmanufacture using programming and/or engineering techniques to producesoftware, firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof. In addition,the systems and methods described above may be provided as one or morecomputer-readable programs embodied on or in one or more articles ofmanufacture. The term “article of manufacture” as used herein isintended to encompass code or logic accessible from and embedded in oneor more computer-readable devices, firmware, programmable logic, memorydevices (e.g., EEPROMs, ROMs, PROMs, RAMs, SRAMs, etc.), hardware (e.g.,integrated circuit chip, Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA),Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), etc.), electronicdevices, a computer readable non-volatile storage unit (e.g., CD-ROM,USB Flash memory, hard disk drive, etc.). The article of manufacture maybe accessible from a file server providing access to thecomputer-readable programs via a network transmission line, wirelesstransmission media, signals propagating through space, radio waves,infrared signals, etc. The article of manufacture may be a flash memorycard or a magnetic tape. The article of manufacture includes hardwarelogic as well as software or programmable code embedded in a computerreadable medium that is executed by a processor. In general, thecomputer-readable programs may be implemented in any programminglanguage, such as LISP, PERL, C, C++, C #, PROLOG, or in any byte codelanguage such as JAVA. The software programs may be stored on or in oneor more articles of manufacture as object code.

While various embodiments of the methods and systems have beendescribed, these embodiments are illustrative and in no way limit thescope of the described methods or systems. Those having skill in therelevant art can effect changes to form and details of the describedmethods and systems without departing from the broadest scope of thedescribed methods and systems. Thus, the scope of the methods andsystems described herein should not be limited by any of theillustrative embodiments and should be defined in accordance with theaccompanying claims and their equivalents.

1. A method for generating training content for completion of tasks, themethod comprising: receiving, by one or more first servers of a firstentity, from each client application of a plurality of clientapplications executing on respective client devices, interactionsrecorded by the client application via an embedded browser of the clientapplication; classifying, by the one or more first servers, theinteractions received from each client application into one or moretasks, each task of the one or more tasks including multipleinteractions across one or more network applications of one or moresecond servers of a second entity; and selecting, by the one or morefirst servers, for a first task of the one or more tasks, from theinteractions classified into the first task, a subset of interactions tobe included in a training content comprising a recorded example ofperforming the first task across the one or more network application;generating, by the one or more first servers, the training contentconfigured to be transmitted to client applications responsive toreceiving a request related to the first task.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the embedded browser is integrated into the client application.3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one task of the one or moretasks is defined by a plurality of interactions across a plurality ofnetwork applications.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprisingidentifying, by the one or more first servers, based on the receivedinteractions, a baseline identifying an amount of time for completingthe task.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying, bythe one or more first servers, based on the received interactions, asubset of users associated with the plurality of client applications,each user of the identified subset of users completing the task within apredetermined amount of time.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein one ormore of the interactions identify a network application, a time stampand an action performed by a user of the client application thatrecorded the interaction.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprisingremoving content from the subset of interactions prior to transmittingthe generated training content.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein thetraining content package is a first training content package, the methodfurther comprising: receiving, by the one or more first servers,feedback relating to the first training content package; and generating,by the one or more first servers, a second generated content packageresponsive to determining that the feedback relating to the firsttraining content package satisfies a predetermined threshold.
 9. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the one or morefirst servers, an indication from a second client application executingon a second client device, that a user session is taking more time thana baseline amount of time to complete the first task; and transmitting,by the one or more first servers, the generated content packageresponsive to receiving the indication.
 10. The method of claim 1,wherein the interactions recorded by the client applications include anoutput to the Document Object Model rendered by the embedded browser.11. The method of claim 1, wherein the client application interceptsoutput representation of application layer protocol data of interactionsof a user with the plurality of network applications, the outputrepresentation outputted to a document object model for rendering by theembedded browser.
 12. A system for presenting additional content for anetwork application accessed via an embedded browser of a clientapplication, the system comprising: one or more first servers of a firstentity configured to receive, from each client application of aplurality of client applications executing on respective client devices,interactions recorded by the client application via an embedded browserof the client application; classifying the interactions received fromeach client application into one or more tasks, each task of the one ormore tasks including multiple interactions across one or more networkapplications of one or more second servers of a second entity; andselecting, for a first task of the one or more tasks, from theinteractions classified into the first task, a subset of interactions tobe included in a training content comprising a recorded example ofperforming the first task across the one or more network application;and generating the training content configured to be transmitted toclient applications responsive to receiving a request related to thefirst task.
 13. The system of claim 12, wherein the embedded browser isintegrated into the client application.
 14. The system of claim 12,wherein at least one task of the one or more tasks is defined by aplurality of interactions across a plurality of network applications.15. The system of claim 12, wherein the one or more first servers arefurther configured to identify, based on the received interactions, abaseline identifying an amount of time for completing the task.
 16. Thesystem of claim 12, wherein one or more of the interactions identify anetwork application, a time stamp and an action performed by a user ofthe client application that recorded the interaction.
 17. The system ofclaim 12, wherein the training content package is a first trainingcontent package, and wherein the one or more first servers are furtherconfigured to: receive feedback relating to the first training contentpackage; and generate a second generated content package responsive todetermining that the feedback relating to the first training contentpackage satisfies a predetermined threshold.
 18. A method for recordingapplication level information of a user across a plurality of networkapplications, the method comprising: establishing, by a clientapplication, one or more sessions of a user for a plurality of networkapplications established via an embedded browser within the clientapplication; tracking, by the client application, user input and pointermovement of interactions by the user; intercepting, by the clientapplication, output representation of application layer protocol data ofinteractions of the user with the plurality of network applications, theoutput representation outputted to a document object model for renderingby the embedded browser; and recording, by the one or more clientapplication, the intercepted output representation and the tracked userinput and pointer movement to record the one or more sessions of theuser.
 19. The method of claim 18, further comprising tracking, by theclient application, a state of the one or more sessions and the embeddedbrowser.
 20. The method of claim 18, wherein (c) further comprisesintercepting, by the embedded browser, at a point between decryption ofcontent from a network stack of a client device and rendering on thedisplay of the client device.